LVMH has dismissed Morgan Stanley's counter-claim in the €100m (€107m) lawsuit launched by French luxury goods group last year, as the courtroom battle over biased equity research heats up.

Lawyers for the two parties appeared in the Paris commercial court on Tuesday where the judge set Tuesday, March 4, as the date for the start of the court case against Morgan Stanley. After the court appearance Morgan Stanley issued a brief press statement saying that it intends to counter-claim against LVMH.