European markets lower after snapping nine-day winning streak; Richemont up 6.3%

Toby Melville | Reuters

This is CNBC's live blog covering European markets.

European markets were lower Friday after shares snapped a nine-day winning streak in the previous session as earnings weighed on positive sentiment.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.1% in early deals, with sectors trading in mixed territory. Tech stocks fell 0.8%, while household goods added 0.5%.

Shares of Richemont climbed 6.3% after the Swiss luxury goods firm said full-year sales rose 3% to an all-time high even as fourth-quarter sales were dragged lower by weaker demand in Asia-Pacific.

Earnings also came Friday from Engie, while inflation updates are due out of the U.K. and euro zone.

U.S. stock futures were little changed overnight after the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly touched the key 40,000 milestone for the first time.

In Asia-Pacific, markets largely fell Friday, as investors assessed key China data to gauge the state of the world's second-largest economy.

Richemont sales dips in fourth quarter on weak Asia-Pacific demand

Billy H.C. Kwok | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesShoppers line up to enter a Cartier store, a unit of Cie. Financiere Richemont SA, on Canton Road in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong.

Swiss luxury group Richemont on Friday reported a 1% drop in fourth-quarter sales, adding to a picture of weakening demand across the luxury sector.

The Cartier owner said sales fell to 4.8 billion euros ($5.21 billion) in the three months to March, driven by a slowdown in Asia-Pacific. At constant exchange rates, sales grew 2% over the period, less than the 8% recorded in the previous quarter.

For the full year, group sales rose 3% to an all-time high of 20.6 billion euros.

"We experienced a softening of sales in the fourth quarter in Asia Pacific against challenging comparatives, which was more than offset by higher growth in all the other regions. As we predicted, a sustainable rebound in Chinese demand would take some time," chairman Johann Rupert said in a statement.

In a separate statement, the company announced Nicolas Bos, CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, as its new group CEO, effective June 1.

— Karen Gilchrist

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European markets: Here are the opening calls

European markets are expected to open lower Friday.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 12 points lower at 8,416, Germany's DAX down 36 points at 18,686, France's CAC 25 points lower at 8,163 and Italy's FTSE MIB down 105 points at 34,975, according to data from IG.

Earnings are due from Richemont and Engie, while inflation updates are due out of the U.K. and euro zone.

— Karen Gilchrist