Pfizer-BioNTech provide a further vaccine boost to shares, as Ryanair climbs on Norwegian Air news

Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci. Husband and wife, are cofounders of BioNTech, the German company that — with its American partner Pfizer — appears closest to rolling out a working vaccine against Covid-19.

European stock markets were buoyed, and US stock avoided declines despite a surge in the number of American Covid-19 cases, as Pfizer-BioNTech revealed even better results from its vaccine trial, saying it plans to file for regulatory approval in the US in the coming days.

Continental European stock indices rose by around 0.4%, the Ftse-100 closed 0.3% higher, and the Iseq in Dublin outperformed the European peers by gaining 1%.