French stocks rose notably on Monday as investors cheered more positive news on the vaccine front, with AstraZeneca saying its vaccine for the novel coronavirus, developed along with the University of Oxford, was up to 90 percent effective depending on the regimen.
Meanwhile, as Europe battles the second wave of the novel coronavirus, the Spanish PM said the government had put together "a comprehensive vaccination plan" that would be presented at Tuesday's cabinet.
The benchmark CAC 40 rose 42 points, or 0.8 percent, to 5,538 after closing 0.4 percent higher on Friday.
Food company Danone was marginally lower. The company plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs in local and global headquarters with an aim to deliver 1 billion euros cost savings by 2023.
Lender Crédit Agricole rallied 3.7 percent after its Italian unit launched an offer to buy Italian bank Credito Valtellinese (Creval).
In economic releases, the French private sector contracted at the fastest pace in six months in November amid fresh Covid-19 lockdown, flash survey data from IHS Markit showed.
The composite output index fell to 39.9 in November from 47.5 in October. Nonetheless, the reading was above economists' forecast of 34.0.
The overall private sector decline was predominantly driven by services, where firms recorded a sharper contraction for the second straight month.
Manufacturers reported a decline in production for the first time since May, but the rate of reduction was moderate overall.
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