(Reuters) -European shares rose on Tuesday, with optimism from vaccine roll-outs helping investors shake off nervous early trades as rising COVID-19 cases result in tighter curbs across the continent.
Vaccination drive in the United States, the latest Western country after the UK, boosted sentiment, lifting the pan-European STOXX 600 index up. 0.2%.
After an initial 0.5% slip, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3%. [.L]
London moved into England’s highest tier of COVID-19 restrictions, with a new variant of the coronavirus likely causing increased infection rates.
Meanwhile, Italy was likely to go under partial lockdown from Dec. 24 to at least Jan. 2 and Germany was set for a new lockdown on Wednesday.
But with the European Union possibly approving a COVID-19 vaccine by January, investors are focusing on vaccine optimism, said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
“Traders are looking beyond the impacts of immediate precautions of a stricter lockdown in the near-term.”
Among sectors, auto and parts makers led gains with Volkswagen rising 5% after its supervisory board said Chief Executive Herbert Diess had its full support as he leads a new team, averting a leadership crisis.
Miners rose as copper and iron ore prices were buoyed by upbeat factory output data from China.[MET/l] [IRONORE/]
Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40, both with big auto and mining names, rose around 0.5%.
Analysts, however, warned of the impact of the new pandemic-led curbs. It could cost as much as 3.5 billion euros in lost value added for Germany, said Erik-Jan van Harn, a northern Europe economist at Rabobank, adding the second round of catch-up spending need not be as strong as the first.
Investors will also keep an eye on the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting set to begin on Tuesday as Washington struggles to pass a fiscal stimulus.
Europe’s retail sector lagged, pressured by a 2.7% drop in H&M after the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, said that local-currency sales fell 10% in its fourth quarter, with a big slowdown in the final month due to the pandemic.
But losses in the sector were tempered by a 6.4% jump in JD Sports after the sportswear retailer said it bought U.S. retailer Shoe Palace for $325 million.
(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
