Shares rise with Biden transition, vaccine advances boost confidence By Reuters



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© Reuters. TV camera men wait for the market to open in front of a large screen showing stock prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo

By Katanga Johnson and Julie Zhu

WASHINGTON / HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian stocks surged on Tuesday as US President-elect Joe Biden was given the green light to begin his White House transition, added to an already brighter mood thanks to progress on the vaccine COVID-19 and prospects for a rapid global economic recovery

U.S. General Service Administration Chief Emily Murphy wrote in a letter to Biden on Monday that he can officially begin the transfer process.

President Donald Trump tweeted that he had told his team to “do what needs to be done with regard to the initial protocols,” an indication that he was moving towards a transition after weeks of legal challenges to the results of the elections.

US stocks have also received an additional boost after Biden plans to appoint former Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen to become the next Treasury secretary. Futures rose 0.48% at the start of Asian trading.

The bullish backdrop helped the MSCI’s largest Asia-Pacific non-Japan equity index to advance 0.15%. Australia was 1.1% stronger, hitting its highest level in nearly nine months, with energy stocks leading the pack.

jumped 2.48% while Seoul’s Kospi was 0.74% higher.

Chinese and Hong Kong blue chips were outliers, however, edging down 0.75% and 0.08%.

Advances on COVID-19 vaccines, which had bolstered Wall Street overnight, helped keep risk appetite high by boosting optimism that the global economy will recover faster.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ 🙂 said its COVID-19 vaccine, which is cheaper to manufacture, easier to distribute and faster to scale than its rivals, could be up to 90 percent effective.

“Traders are still buying permission for vaccine news, as an end to the pandemic becomes imaginable. Recent US data has restored some confidence that the economy is resilient, despite the surge in COVID-19 infections and a painful lack of further fiscal stimulus, ”said Kyle Rodda, market analyst for IG Australia.

“And the news of Yellen’s possible appointment as US Treasury Secretary potentially puts a very Fed-friendly dove in the reins of fiscal policy.”

The hit its lowest since Sept. 1 before rising 0.214% with the euro unchanged at $ 1.184.

On Wall Street, the rate rose 1.12% overnight, the S&P 500 gained 0.56% while the added only 0.22%, underperforming as traders shied away from big names in technology.

Some analysts expect significant short-term risks ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, although others say unexpected events at the start of the shorter trading week have helped investors focus on growing advantages of financial markets.

Oil prices added to last week’s gains as traders predicted vaccine news would stimulate a recovery in energy demand.

“Investors are ignoring short-term headwinds, chiefly of which is the surge in COVID infections around the world, and instead look to next summer,” said PVM analyst Stephen Brennock.

The United States has passed 255,000 deaths and 12 million infections since the start of the pandemic, with a record number of infections at nearly 170,000 and daily deaths at around 1,500.

rose 0.14% to $ 43.12 a barrel and was at $ 46.10, up 0.09% on Tuesday, as a commodity price index hit its highest since early March.

The yield on the 10 Year Reference Notes edged up to 0.8684%.

fell to $ 1,827.01 an ounce while the US fell 0.46% to $ 1,829.30 an ounce.



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