Europe open: Stocks reverse early losses, healthcare leads

Stocks have recovered from early selling following news that European Union leaders meeting in Brussels had made progress on the terms for a reconstruction fund.

On Sunday night it had seemed that a deal might be a bridge too far at the current summit and even on Monday morning, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, was warning that any agreement might yet fall apart.

"A deal would mark a breakthrough for the EU and show that the bloc can respond to an era-defining crisis with one voice," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com.

"Failure today is not the end of the road by any means, but it could produce a negative reaction in Euro-area sovereign debt, European equities and the euro."

Against that backdrop, as of 1015 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was 0.18% higher at 373.39, alongside a 0.59% rise for the German Dax to 12,995.39 and a 0.18% gain on the FTSE Mibtel to 20,456.72.

Euro/dollar was probing four-month highs alongside, adding 0.23% to 1.1454.

A sub-index for Healthcare issues was the top gainer on the Stoxx 600, advancing 0.51%, followed close behind by another gauge for Technology that was up by 0.49%.

Not to lose sight of, detailed results of an early trial into Oxford University and AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine candidate were also due out on Monday, but the time of the announcement had not been disclosed.

Ahead of that announcement, it had already been a good day thus far for companies investigation potential treatments for Covid-19.

Shares of Sweden's Enzymatica AB were 80% higher after the preliminary results of an in vitro study showed that mouth spray ColdZyme could deactivate SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, by 98.3%.

Stock in the UK's Synairgen however was the main talking point in markets after the AIM-listed firm said that one of its treatments can sharply cut the risk of passing to severe forms of Covid-19.

In Russia meanwhile, researchers announced positive results for an experimental Covid-19 vaccine, although few details were forthcoming.

The UK announced deals for Pfizer, BioNTech and Valneva to supply 90m Covid-19 vaccine shots.

Back on the economic front, EU talks scheduled to end on Sunday continued through the night but in the end the five countries which had held out against a deal - Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden - had reportedly agreed to €390bn in aid being extended in the form of grants, versus an initial proposal for €500bn.

Negotiations were set to resume at 1500 BST but the final size of the fund and what controls would be put in place had yet to be agreed.