Europe close: Jump in euro dents stocks, travel issues erase losses

Stocks across the Continent finished off their best levels of the session with benchmark equity gauges in France and Spain still unable to retake their June highs, in part as gains for the euro weighed on equities.

Bolstering was the single currency was news of a landmark deal among European Union leaders for a €750bn reconstruction fund, which served to send the euro ahead by 0.75% to 1.1534 - its highest level since late 2018.

Market participants for the most part cheered the agreement reached in Brussels with some describing as very close to a fiscal union - very close indeed.

But for Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK it was closer to a 'baby step' in that direction.

"The money in question is but a fraction of what is required to help the likes of Italy, Spain and Greece get out of their current difficulties," said Hewson.

"This deal is likely to be yet another sticking plaster on a dysfunctional monetary union, as it lurches from one crisis to another."

For Edward Moya at Oanda, the deal "alleviates any short-term concerns that another Brexit would happen."

Against that backdrop, by the end of trading, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was ahead by just 0.32% to 376.7, while the German Dax put on 0.96% to 13,171.83.

Milan's FTSE Mibtel meanwhile edged up 0.49% to 20,723.42, having earlier gained well over 2.0%.

Having paced gains on the Stoxx 600 throughout much of the session, a sub-index for banks ended up by just 0.97% and was also to be found well below its June highs.

Autos&Parts took its place as the best performing sector on Tuesday, adding 1.48%.

Norway's Schibsted topped the leaderboard for the Stoxx 600, after the multinational media group announced that America's E-Bay would take a 44% stake in Adevinta, in which it too was a shareholder.

Shares of firms in Basic Resources on the other hand were down 0.89% as a group after the release of data showing a 12.8% year-on-year drop in South Korean export over the first 20 days of July (June: -7.5%).

A gauge for Travel&Leisure names erased early losses to rise 0.79%, with the likes of IAG and TUI AG both higher.

On a related note, shortly after noon the head of the European Medicines Agency told Bloomberg that the first Covid-19 vaccine could be approved in 2020, within a matter of days once a petition for approval was submitted.

Earlier, the head of Oxford University's efforts to deliver a vaccine alongside AstraZeneca, Sarah Gilbert, had said a vaccine was possible in 2020 but not certain, naming the need for speedy regulatory approval as one of the potential hurdles.

UBS finished higher after the investment bank signalled that share buybacks might be on the cards.

On Tuesday morning, EU leaders inked a deal for a €750bn reconstruction fund after a five-day marathon of talks, of which €390bn would be disbursed as grants and the remainder via loans.

The European Commission had originally proposed that €500bn be made available through grants.

Of the total sum, 70% of the funds would be disbursed in 2021 and 2022 and the remainder in 2023 but with distribution of the monies to depend on how economies had performed over the preceding two years.

Vistesen added: "A one-off agreement of joint long-term borrowing—the maturity of the Commission-issued bonds will be 2058—to transfer funds as grants is not exactly a fiscal union, but it comes close, very close indeed."