The world’s largest economy suffered losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it is not surprising that investors are closely monitoring the situation that comes from the U.S. Interestingly, stocks in Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Monday.
It is worth noting that investor sentiment improved last week around coronavirus vaccine rollouts as well as the negotiations about the U.S. coronavirus stimulus deal.
Let’s start with Australia. Interestingly, Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 added 0.62% to 6,675 as the heavily-weighted financials subindex gained 0.28%. Energy, as well as mining stocks, mostly rose on Monday. Shares of Rio Tinto added 2.46% and Woodside Petroleum gained 0.65%. Also, shares of Fortescue added 3,78% and BHP gained 2.14%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.76% to 26,547.44. At the same time, the Topix index declined 0.86% to 1,760.75.
Importantly, South Korea’s Kospi index retraced earlier losses to strengthen its position on Monday. The Kospi index added 0.51% to 2,745.44.
However, mainland Chinese stocks fell on December 7. The Shanghai Composite dropped 0.81% to 3,416.60. In the meantime, the Shenzhen Composite declined 0.301% to end its trading day at 2,294.91. The Shenzhen Component dropped 0.38% to 13,973.48.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.25% in late-afternoon trade.
Stocks and promising news about coronavirus vaccine
The coronavirus pandemic and its impact remain one of the most debated topics for several months. It makes sense as analysts, investors, as well as millions of people would like to learn more about the situation.
As a reminder, Pfizer, as well as Moderna, have applied for emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Pfizer was the first company to seek emergency use from the FDA.
It is worth noting that the U.K. made history by becoming the first country to authorize Pfizer’s vaccine, which was developed with BioNTech. As a result, the U.K. will be one of the first countries to begin vaccinating its population. Based on the information provided by BioNTech that the delivery of the 40 million doses will occur throughout 2020 and 2021. Interestingly, as a two-dose vaccine, the country will have enough doses to vaccinate around a third of its 66 million population.
Hopefully, companies, as well as authorities in many parts of the world, are working hard not to approve the coronavirus vaccine, but also to come up with a plan on how to distribute the vaccine. It is not an easy task, and it would take several months, maybe even more, to fulfill this goal.
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