Asian markets ended higher on Friday on expectations for a corona virus vaccine, with Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE stating that they are on track to seek regulatory review for their corona virus vaccine candidate as early as October 2020. Investors' sentiment also improved further in tracking a technology stocks-driven rally on Wall Street in which the Nasdaq Composite index hit a record high. China and the United States have agreed to hold trade talks in the coming days to evaluate the Phase One trade deal’s progress, helped to outweigh downbeat US jobless claims data released overnight. The US Labor Department said initial jobless claims for the week ending August 15 came in at 1.106 million. Chinese shares closed higher ahead of the implementation of reforms measures for Shenzhen's start-up board ChiNext. Seoul stocks ended sharply higher after data showed South Korean exports contracted by a smaller percentage in the first 20 days of August than in July. Exports contracted 7 percent from a year earlier in the period, versus a drop of 13 percent in the same period in July. While, imports declined 12.8 percent year-on-year in the first 20 days of August.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,380.68 | 16.78 | 0.50 |
Hang Seng | 25,113.84 | 322.45 | 1.30 |
Jakarta Composite | - | - | - |
KLSE Composite | 1,577.12 | 1.74 | 0.11 |
Nikkei 225 | 22,920.30 | 39.68 | 0.17 |
Straits Times | 2,528.54 | 0.62 | 0.02 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,304.59 | 30.37 | 1.34 |
Taiwan Weighted | 12,607.84 | 245.20 | 1.98 |
