European stocks rise near 3-week high as travel sector rallies

European stocks rose on Thursday, extending gains for the second straight day, near the 3-week high hit yesterday, thanks to continued positive performance by the traveling and entertainment sector as Covid-19 concerns started to fade in Europe.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose over 0.2% as of 11:35 GMT, after closing higher by 0.5% yesterday, and hit a 3-week high at 475.13 points.

The traveling and entertainment sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, with a jump of 1.1%, as fears of the spread of the delta variant eased. 

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% today, ahead of Wall Street's opening, after the index closed lower by less than 0.1% yesterday on profit-taking from its record of 4,537.36 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.1%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.3%, and Germany's DAX index rose 0.1%, while the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.