UPDATE 2-European stocks hold eight-month highs despite lockdown fears

  • Reuters
  • Stock Market News
UPDATE 2-European stocks hold eight-month highs despite lockdown fears

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window)

* Banking, energy, auto parts stocks build on Monday rally

* UK redundancies hit record high as job market slumps

* German investor morale drops on second lockdown

* Unibail tops STOXX 600 as shareholders reject rights issue (Adds comments, updates prices)

By Sagarika Jaisinghani and Shreyashi Sanyal

Nov 10 (Reuters) - European shares held near eight-month highs on Tuesday, riding a wave of optimism about a COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough, although concerns about the pandemic's economic damage capped gains.

The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX , which rallied 4% on Monday after positive news from U.S. drugmaker Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) PFE.N about its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, rose 0.9%. European Commission said it will approve on Wednesday a contract for the supply of Pfizer and its partner BioNTech's 22UAy.DE potential coronavirus vaccine. equity markets are consolidating following yesterday's impressive rally," Milan Cutkovic, market analyst at Axi, said of European shares, which have surged 12% this month.

While President-elect Joe Biden is expected to restore a calmer U.S. trade and foreign policy, strict coronavirus lockdowns have threatened a nascent European recovery.

"A large part of Europe is still in a partial or full lockdown, and it is crucial to avoid a back and forth between different levels of restrictions as this is causing significant damage to consumer and business confidence," Cutkovic said.

The ZEW economic research institute said German investor sentiment fell more than expected in November on concerns over a second lockdown. FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 1.8%, despite data showing that British employers made a record number of staff redundant in the third quarter and the jobless rate jumped. bourse .FTMIB added 0.4% a day after posting its best day since March. The country is ramping up business restrictions in Tuscany and four other regions to rein in the second wave of the pandemic. .SX7P , auto parts .SXAP and energy .SXEP stocks were among Europe's biggest gainers, while travel & leisure stocks .SXTP fell on lockdown concerns.

"Even if a vaccine proves effective, inoculating a large enough part of the population will take time and leave these segments prone to economic lockdown fallout," Commerzbank (DE: CBKG ) analyst Christoph Rieger said.

In Amsterdam, shopping mall owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield URW.AS shares surged 21% to the top of the STOXX 600 after its shareholders voted against a planned 3.5 billion euro ($4.15 billion) rights issue.

Add Chart to Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind: 

  • Enrich the conversation
  • Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
  • Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically.
  •  Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and links within a comment will be removed
  • Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user.
  • Don’t Monopolize the Conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also believe strongly in giving everyone a chance to air their thoughts. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Drop an image here or Supported formats: *.jpg, *.png, *.gif up to 5mb

Error: File type not supported

Drop an image here or

100
Please try another search