Another week, another piece of promising news about a potential Covid-19 vaccine, and another lift for equity markets.
Biotech company Moderna’s announcement that its vaccine candidate has shown a efficacy rate of 94.5% in clinical trials has been hailed as “pivotal” moment by the company’s chief executive, and comes just a week after a similar update from Pfizer.
London’s FTSE 100 index rose by about 1.7% to hit 6,421 points, its highest point in more than five months. The FTSE 250 was up by some 1.8% at 19,608, a high last seen before the UK entered its first lockdown.
In the top indices there were sizeable gains for real estate companies including British Land, shares in which rose by 6.3% to 504.4p – its best since late February and continuing a run of recent rises for the company.
Pub, restaurant and hotel group Whitbread jumped by almost 10% to 3,054p, the second-highest climb of the day in the FTSE 100 and putting the company at a high of more than eight months.
In the FTSE 250 cinema group Cineworld was the day’s biggest riser, climbing more than 13% to 49.76p.
Elsewhere in the real estate market, Hammerson soared by some 11% to 25.65p.
The day’s fallers included SEGRO, which lost 3% to close at 896.8p, and Real Estate Investors, down 2.9% at 33p.
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