French stocks advanced on Thursday after the Federal Reserve vowed to continue its bond buying program and European Union lawmakers approved the bloc's 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) stimulus package.
Sentiment was also buoyed by progress in U.S. stimulus talks, optimism over the prospects for a post-Brexit trade deal and reports suggesting that Germany and France will roll out their Covid-19 vaccine by month end.
An EU official said on Wednesday the bloc could give its final approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 23.
The benchmark CAC 40 rose 23 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,571 after edging up 0.3 percent in the previous session.
Electric utility EDF gained 2.4 percent. The company revised its EBITDA target for 2020 at 16 billion euros or slightly above, compared to prior outlook of EBITDA of 15.2 billion euros - 15.7 billion euros.
Automaker Renault climbed 1.4 percent and Peugeot added 1.5 percent.
Industry data showed that Europe's new car registrations logged a double-digit decline in November as several European governments introduced new measures to contain the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
New car sales decreased 12 percent year-on-year in November after easing 7.8 percent in October.
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