European shares start week on firm footing, vaccine developments eyed

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Australia expects to receive its first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in January after a deal was struck with CSL (AX:CSL) to manufacture two vaccines – one developed by rival AstraZeneca (L:AZN) and Oxford University, and another in CSL’s own labs with the University of Queensland.

AstraZeneca rose 1.5%. The European healthcare sector index (SXDP) jumped 0.9%.

The STOXX 600 index (STOXX) was 0.8% higher by 0709 GMT, with Frankfurt shares (GDAXI) leading gains after rising 1%.

Shares of insurers (SXIP), banks (SX7P) and automakers (SXAP) climbed more than 1% in early trading.