European stock indices show a slight increase, fueled by the financial results of companies, as well as higher prices of commodities. At the same time, the British FTSE 100 continues to update the historical highs against the backdrop of sterling's fall.

Some influence on the course of trading provided statistics from Britain and France. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) comparable retail sales in the UK in December increased by 1% compared to the same month a year ago. Head of retail department, Paul Martin said that retailers were lucky with the timing. The fact that Christmas fell on Sunday, giving customers the chance to use the weekend for final purchases in shops, which increased sales.

Meanwhile, the statistical office Insee said that the volume of industrial production in France rose in November by 2.2% compared with a decrease of 0.1% in October. Economists had forecast growth of only 0.6%. Thus the data significantly exceeded the expectations of most experts and were the most positive in the last three months. Production of coking coal and refined petroleum products increased by 6.3%, transport equipment by 3.4%. The volume of mineral production grew by 1.5%. Meanwhile, construction fell in November by 0.3%, after rising 2% in the previous month.

The composite index of the largest companies in the region Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.03 percent, to 363.79. Shares of automobile companies also rose 0.4 percent after the German automaker Volkswagen said that the steady growth of sales in China and Eastern Europe helped offset losses from environmental scandal in major markets. Shares of Volkswagen rose about 1 percent.

Banking stocks show a negative dynamics, as in the Italian banking shows new problems. Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca, which were saved in the past year, have to offer a deal to shareholders, which could cost the banks more than 600 million euros.

Capitalization of WM Morrison rose 4.2 percent after the British retailer has improved its forecast for profit in response to the very high volume of Christmas sales for the past seven years.

Tesco value increased by 4.4 percent, as the retailer recorded the bigest sales among the four largest supermarkets during the 4th quarter of 2016.

At the moment:

FTSE 100 +25.99 7263.76 + 0.36%

DAX +24.74 11588.73 + 0.21%

CAC 40 +4.78 4892.35 + 0.10%