STORY: Sales at Cartier-owner Richemont fell below expectations last quarter.

The luxury group on Tuesday blamed a slump in Chinese demand.

Sales rose 1% to $5.77 billion - below analyst projections of a 2% rise.

Richemont said all regions delivered growth except for the Asia Pacific , where sales dropped 27% in China.

However, those struggles were partly offset by a strong performance in Japan, where Chinese travelers seized on the weaker yen to snap up luxury products.

Sales rose in Europe and the Americas, however.

And some market watchers were relieved Richemont's figures were not even worse, after a tough start to the week for luxury brands,

Burberry saw shares plummet after a profit warning.

While Germany's Hugo Boss cut its sales guidance for the year on weak demand.

Richemont shares were up around 1% in early trade.