European shares rose for a fourth straight session on Thursday, as optimism over businesses returning to work and stimulus for the battered euro zone economy outweighed rising US-China tensions.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.6% to hit an 11-week high, with healthcare stocks rebounding from losses earlier this week.
GlaxoSmithKline, the world's largest vaccine maker, gained 2.1% as it laid out plans to produce 1 billion doses of vaccine efficacy boosters for COVID-19 shots next year.
Other defensive sectors such as personal & household goods, telecoms and utilities also rose.
UK cinema operator Cineworld surged 21.4% to the top of the STOXX 600 after saying it expected to reopen all its venues in July and had secured additional liquidity.
The STOXX 600 has risen more than 32% from its March lows as investors hope for a gradual recovery with policymakers injecting trillions of dollars into the global economy and drugmakers racing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
The mood in Europe has brightened this week on a 750-billion-euro ($826.35 billion) EU plan to prop up the bloc's virus-hit economies, while hopes are running high the European Central Bank will further expand its bond purchase programme next week, possibly by 500 billion euros.
Italian luxury group Salvatore Ferragamo surged 16% after it called back its former chief executive officer to help weather the COVID-19 storm.
And Scandinavian airline SAS slumped 11.2% after revealing it was in talks with shareholders to raise funds as the collapse in travel demand hurt its quarterly results.
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