MILAN/FRANKFURT: European stocks closed higher on Wednesday following new record highs for Wall Street's main indexes, while UK airlines rallied on hopes of a shorter quarantine period for travellers.
After a feeble start, the pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 0.7%, with stock markets in Germany, London and France all gaining ground.
British Airways-owner IAG surged 7.6% and easyJet rose 3.3% on news that Britain's government was working with Heathrow Airport on a plan to use Covid-19 testing to help shorten quarantine times.
The travel sector has come under pressure as several countries in Europe have imposed new travel curbs because of a pick-up in coronavirus cases.
Danish shipping group Maersk, a bellwether for global trade, issued forecast-beating full-year earnings and said it expected demand for moving containers at sea to return to pre-Covid levels in the first half of next year. Its shares jumped 5.0%.
Trillions of dollars in stimulus and a rally in technology stocks drove the S&P 500 to new record highs, with Apple becoming the first publicly listed US company to record $2 trillion in market capitalisation.
Brewery Royal Unibrew jumped 9.8% to the top of STOXX 600 after it raised its 2020 earnings forecast.
Utilities took a hit as RWE fell 4.6% as the German company launched a share issue to finance its purchase of wind turbine maker Nordex's project development pipeline.
Finland's biggest utility Fortum slid 4.9% as it reported an 11% fall in its underlying second-quarter operating profit.
The biggest decliner on the STOXX 600 was Belgian biotech company Galapagos, which slumped 24.4% after US health regulators rejected its lead product filgotinib to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
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