BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks extended gains for the fourth day running to hover near 10-month highs on Thursday, as U.S. stimulus hopes and optimism over the rollout of coronavirus vaccines strengthened the case for a global economic recovery.
Investors believe that large amounts of liquidity provided by central banks will continue to remain abundant to support the nascent recovery.
The U.S. Congress is getting close to a $900 billion coronavirus relief deal, while the Federal Reserve vowed to keep pouring cash into financial markets until the economy recovers.
European Union lawmakers approved the bloc's 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) stimulus package on Wednesday, clearing the path for a much-needed injection of funds.
Meanwhile, all eyes were on a Bank of England meeting later in the day. The nine-member committee is expected to hold the key rate a record low 0.10 percent and the asset purchase program at GBP 895 billion after raising it by GBP 150 billion in November.
Earlier today, the Swiss National Bank maintained its policy rate and interest on sight deposits at -0.75 percent, as expected.
The pan European Stoxx 600 rose half a percent to 397.97 after climbing 0.8 percent on Wednesday.
The German DAX gained about 1 percent and France's CAC 40 index edged up 0.4 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was little changed amid a rising pound.
The British pound pushed higher against the dollar and euro on optimism about the possibility of a Brexit trade deal. As trade talks reach a climax, officials cautiously predicted a deal within days.
Novartis rose over 1 percent. The pharmaceutical company has agreed to buy all of the outstanding capital stock of Cadent Therapeutics.
Serco Group rallied 3.3 percent. The provider of services to governments said that it expects fiscal 2020 underlying trading profit to grow by around 35 percent, consistent with previous guidance.
WPP climbed 3.7 percent. The world's biggest advertising firm said it expects to return to 2019 levels of revenue less pass-through costs by 2022.
TalkTalk Telecom Group jumped 2.8 percent. The telecoms group has agreed a £1.1bn takeover offer by Tosca IOM.
Cairn Energy gained nearly 2 percent after announcing a special dividend.
Electric utility EDF gained 2.6 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.
Automakers were broadly higher even as industry data showed that Europe's new car registrations logged a double-digit decline in November. Daimler, Renault and Peugeot all rose about 1 percent.
Evotec SE climbed 3.7 percent. The drug discovery alliance and development partnership company said it has achieved key milestones in its partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) on targeted protein degradation.
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