Europe midday: Stocks push higher as travel sector surges

Travel stocks were still pacing the advance in European equity markets by midday on Tuesday, as investors punted on hopes that further curbs may not be needed to deal with the Omicron Covid variant.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index had extended gains to trade up 0.9%, hitting fresh records along the way in the wake of the US S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices closing at all-time highs overnight. All major regional bourses were higher.

Sentiment was boosted after the UK's vaccine minister said Britons hospitalised with Covid-19 in were broadly showing less severe symptoms than before.

In France, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said although a spike in Omicron cases was disrupting some sectors, there was no risk of it "paralysing" the economy, and stuck to a forecast of 4% growth for France's GDP in 2022.

"Despite continually rising cases of Omicron, there is a growing belief that the variant is less deadly if more transmissible, particularly when coming up against the wall of triple-jabbed individuals," said Interactive Investor head of markets Richard Hunter.

In equity news airlines Ryanair, British Airways and Iberia-owner IAG and Wizz Air all made large gains. Cruise line operator Carnival was up, along with holiday giant TUI.