Europe close: Investors breathe sigh of relief, Trump 'active', Pence, Biden and Harris test negative

European stocks finished higher following reports that US President Donald Trump and the First Lady only had mild Covid-19 symptoms, while Vice-President Michael Pence and Democratic electoral rivals Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had all tested negative, ensuring that there would not be a leadership vacuum in Washington D.C..

The reports around Trump cited his chief of staff; nonetheless, even if the gravest risks had been skirted, some observers pointed out that the world would be closely watching Trump's health over the next few days.

And as John Authers at Bloomberg pointed out, even the average Americans every day behaviour might be susceptible to change.

Thus, the main stockmarket gauges on the Continent, outside of Germany all managed to finish higher.

The Stoxx 600 edged up 0.25% to 362.69 with Spain's Ibex 35 up by 0.35% to 6,754.5 and France and Italy's main market gauges pretty much flat. Yet even the German Dax finished far from its session lows.

Investors were also eyeing developments around Brexit talks, with the pound climbing on news that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would intervene in negotiations for the first time since June when he holds talks on Saturday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in an effort to move towards a deal.

In corporate news, shares in Centamin topped the fallers board, down almost 22%. The company said it would reduce production guidance for the current year after ground movement forced an area of its Egyptian Sukari gold mine to be shut down.

The biggest gainer was Spanish engineering company ACS, up 26% on news it was in talks to sell its industrial division to French toll-road operator Vinci for about €5.2bn. Vinci rose 4%.