Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday on expectations of a global economic recovery amid progress in Covid-19 vaccine development, while a formal transition approval for US President-elect Joe Biden also lifted sentiment. AstraZeneca announced its vaccine candidate being developed in collaboration with Oxford University had an average efficacy of 70 percent. Japanese shares climbed as trading resumed after a long holiday weekend. Further, the Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated the central bank’s readiness to implement additional easing measures if needed, too supported market sentiment. Meanwhile, Consumer confidence in South Korea strengthened in November, the latest survey from the Bank of Korea showed with a Composite Consumer Sentiment Index score of 97.9 up from 91.6 in October. Though, Chinese shares declined after foreign policy specialists have said they expect Sino-US tensions to continue under the Biden presidency. A Chinese government advisor recently said that the US President-elect Joe Biden is certainly a very weak President and he could start a war with China.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,402.82 | -11.67 | -0.34 |
Hang Seng | 26,588.20 | 102.00 | 0.39 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,701.03 | 48.27 | 0.85 |
KLSE Composite | 1,578.39 | -19.09 | -1.20 |
Nikkei 225 | 26,165.59 | 638.22 | 2.50 |
Straits Times | 2,891.63 | 42.85 | 1.50 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,617.76 | 15.17 | 0.58 |
Taiwan Weighted | 13,807.13 | -70.88 | -0.51 |
