European ended mostly higher on Tuesday, as optimism about coronavirus vaccine, robust factory data from China and somewhat encouraging economic reports from the Euro area outweighed Brexit deal uncertainty.
On the Brexit front, a Reuters report citing a senior European Union official said that the EU will launch before this week if it fails to reach an agreement with the UK by Thursday.
The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.65%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 surged up 1.89%, France's CAC 40 advanced 1.14% and Germany's DAX gained 0.69%, while Switzerland's SMI slid 0.26%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed with sharp to moderate gains.
Czech Republic, Denmark and Portugal ended lower.
In the French market, Sodexo, Societe Generale, Valeo, Unibail Rodamco, ArcelorMittal, Total, LVMH, Accor, Vinci, Capgemini, Publicis Groupe, STMicroElectronics, Veloia and Renault gained 1.5 to 4%.
WorldLine, Teleperformance, Technip and Carrefour settled notably lower.
In Germany, Thyssenkrupp climbed nearly 6%. Lufthansa, Fresenius, Volkswagen, Linde, Munich RE, Covestro, Daimler, Allianz, Deutsche Bank, Bayer and HeidelbergCement also ended sharply higher.
In the UK market, Taylor Wimpey, Melrose, Lloyds Banking Group, Persimmon, Natwest Group, Barclays, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Fresnillo, Compass Group, Barratt Developments, Berkeley Group, IAG, Standard Chartered and BT Group gained 5 to 7%.
On the other hand, Aveva Group slid more than 6%. Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Avast, Unilever and SAGE Group gained 2 to 5%.
In economic news, the euro area manufacturing sector expanded for the fifth successive month in November despite new lockdown measures, final data from IHS Markit showed. The final factory Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 53.8 in November from 54.8 in October.
Eurozone consumer prices declined for the fourth straight month in November, falling 0.3% on a yearly basis, the same rate of fall as seen in October, flash data from Eurostat showed. Economists had forecast an annual drop of 0.2%.
Germany's jobless rate remained at seasonally adjusted 4.5% in October. Similarly, on an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate came in at 4.4%, the same rate as registered in September.
Data showed that employment decreased 1.3% annually in October.
UK house prices rose the most in nearly six years in November, moving up by 6.5% year-on-year, after coming in at 5.8% a month earlier. Economists had forecast a 5.5% increase.
The UK manufacturing acturing sector growth strengthened in November before the end of the Brexit transition period, final data from IHS Markit showed.
The IHS Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply factory Purchasing Managers' Index rose to a 35-month high of 55.6 in November from 53.7 in October. The flash reading was 55.2.
Data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed Swiss GDP grew 7.2% sequentially, offsetting the 7% decrease logged in the second quarter. This was also faster than the 5.9% expansion expected by economists.
Year-on-year, GDP was down 1.6% but much slower than the 7.8% fall seen in the previous quarter and economists' forecast of -3.3%.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development downgraded global growth outlook for next year and called for determined policy action to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth.
The world is projected to shrink 4.2% this year before rebounding 4.2% in 2021, the Paris-based agency said in its economic outlook, released today.
In vaccine news, Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and German biotech firm BioNTech SE have submitted a formal Application for Conditional Marketing Authorization or CMA for their mRNA -based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, to the European Medicines Agency or EMA.
The companies hope that a CMA could potentially enable the use of BNT162b2 in Europe before the end of 2020.
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