By Simon Kennedy
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets held in a tight range in early trading Thursday as investors stayed mostly on the sidelines after solid gains in the previous session. Among stocks on the move, shares in Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (SE:HMB 213.70, -15.00, -6.56%) dropped 5.9% in early trading after the group reported lower fourth-quarter profit and Swiss healthcare group Novartis (CH:NOVN 53.40, -1.05, -1.93%) dropped 2.1% after its results fell short of expectations. Among the main indexes, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,987, +17.71, +0.30%) fell 0.1% to 5,963.05, the French CAC 40 index (FR:PX1 4,062, +12.64, +0.31%) rose 0.1% to 4,053.13 and the German DAX 30 index (DX:DAX 7,163, +35.25, +0.50%) rose 0.2% to 7,143.58. |
