Irish shares join in Europe-wide 'relief rally' amid encouraging Omicron data   

Ryanair shares climbed 2.5% today.

Irish and other European shares joined a pre-Christmas rally as investors hailed studies that showed the rate of hospitalisations from Omicron could be lower than once feared.

The Iseq index of Irish shares, the Stoxx Europe index of the continent's 600 largest listed firms, and the Ftse-100 rose by as much as 1.2% on hopes that the studies will mean that European governments will not need to bring in new lockdowns to curtail the variant in the coming weeks.