Europe: Equities steady at open

[LONDON] European stock markets held steady in opening deals on Tuesday, as dealers paused for breath following the previous day's vaccine-driven gains.

In initial trade, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of major blue-chip companies was down 0.1 per cent at 6,413.58 points.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 added almost 0.1 per cent to stand at 13,145.27 points, while the Paris CAC 40 was flat at 5,473.04.

Markets jumped Monday after the announcement that a second Covid-19 vaccine is proving effective in trials, sparking fresh hope of a return to normality.

Moderna said its experimental vaccine was shown to be 94.5 per cent effective according to early trial results. That followed an announcement last week by Pfizer and BioNTech that their vaccine was 90 per cent effective.

AFP