(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window)
Dec 30 (Reuters) - European stocks edged higher on Wednesday
as Britain approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca
and Oxford University, while bets of more U.S. fiscal aid and
massive vaccination efforts spurred hopes of a strong global
economic recovery next year.
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX rose 0.1% by 0810 GMT,
hovering near a 10-month high hit in the previous session.
Shares in AstraZeneca AZN.L were up 1.3% after jumping
3.3% earlier in anticipation of the news. The drugmaker said the
authorisation was for a two-dose regime, and that the vaccine
had been approved for use for emergency supply as Britain
battles a new, highly contagious variant of the virus.
Most markets in the region were subdued due to thin volumes
in a holiday-shortened week. The German DAX .GDAXI was flat,
while French .FCHI and Spanish stocks .IBEX slipped 0.1%
each.
Unicaja UNI.MC rose more than 2% and Liberbank LBK.MC
was down 3.6% after they announced an all-in share deal that
would create Spain's fifth-biggest bank with around 110 billion
euros ($134.71 billion) in assets.