European Financial Markets Reap Gains Sparked by Hopes of Potential COVID-19 Vaccine

Europe’s benchmark indices were higher Wednesday due to rising optimism over U.S. drugmaker Pfizer’s potential COVID-19 vaccine.

At midday, Britain’s FTSE index was up 0.7%, while both the CAC-40 index in France and the DAX index in Frankfurt were 0.3% higher.

Wednesday’s buying momentum began hours earlier in the Asia-Pacific rim, with the Nikkei index in Tokyo and Sydney’s S&P/ASX index both closing 1.7% higher. Elsewhere, Seoul’s KOSPI index and the TSEC index in Taipei both ended up 1.3%, and Mumbai’s Sensex finished 0.7% higher.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.4%, while Shanghai’s Composite index lost 0.5%.

In commodities trading, gold was selling at $1,870.20 per ounce, a drop of 0.3%. U.S. crude oil was up 2.7%, selling at $42.49 per barrel, while Brent crude oil was selling at $44.78 per barrel, a gain of 2.6%.

In futures trading, all three major U.S. indices were trending higher as investors prepared for Wall Street’s opening bell.