BEIJING – Asian stock markets won Monday after coronavirus vaccine maker AstraZeneca agreed to increase supply to Europe amid growing concerns about the disease.
Stocks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul rose, while those in Shanghai splashed after studies showed Chinese manufacturing weakened in January.
On Friday, the Wall Street benchmark S&P 500 index lost 1.9% after GameStop, a video game retailer, and some other shares that were expected to decline were put up high by day traders . Other investors said hedge funds that bet against these stocks were losing money and selling other shares.
Markets were confirmed by AZN AstraZeneca,
announce that it would deliver less than half the promised doses to the European Union. This prompted the EU to impose export controls. On Sunday, AstraZeneca promised to increase European supply and start delivering earlier.
“Concerns surrounding the pandemic appeared to be returning to full force as cases of vaccine spread and efficacy emerged even with the virus gaining traction,” Mizuho Bank said in a report.
An Nikkei 225 NIK,
in Tokyo gained 1.2% and the Hang Seng HSI,
in Hong Kong advanced 1.9%. An Kospi 180721,
in Seoul added 2.2%.
Shanghai SHCOMP Integrated Index,
inched up 0.1% after two studies showed growth in Chinese manufacturing deceived in January.
Stocks were flat in Singapore STI,
but found in Taiwan Y9999,
and Indonesia JAKIDX,
Purchasing managers ’index posted by business magazine Caixin fell to 51.5 from Dec. 53 on a 100-point scale with numbers above 50 indicating expanding activity. A separate PMI with the official statistics body showed a similar weakening.
The data shows that China’s reversal is “getting smoother,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report.
Investors have claimed stocks expect the distribution of coronavirus vaccines to allow global business and travel to return to normal. But that hope has been dashed by new infectious spikes and controversies in vaccine delivery.
On Sunday, the EU announced that AstraZeneca has agreed to deliver 9 million extra doses of the coronavirus vaccine to Europe.
The new target of 40 million doses by the end of March is still only half what the British-Swedish company initially aimed for before announcing a deficit due to production difficulties. The EU is behind the United States in vaccinating its 450 million people.
On Wall Street, there was growing concern about a struggle between hedge funds and day traders over GameStop GME,
AMC Entertainment AMC,
and a handful of other stocks.
The S&P 500 SPX,
fell 1.9% to 3,714.24, taking the biggest weekly loss from the benchmark index since October. The S&P 500 is still up 13.6% from the end of October.
Dow Jones industrial average DJIA,
fell 2% to 29,982.62 and the Nasdaq compound COMP,
lost 2% to 13,070.69.
Investors are also monitoring talks in Washington about a $ 1.9 trillion economic support package proposed by President Joe Biden. Hopes for relief, coupled with the Federal Reserve’s commitment to keeping low-cost credit plentiful, have carried the S&P 500 and other major indices to record high rates.
In energy markets, US crude CLH21 identified,
18 cents rose to $ 52.38 a barrel in electronic commerce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The 14-penny deal fell Friday to $ 52.20. Brent crude BRNJ21,
the basis for international oil prices, he earned 32 cents to $ 55.37 per barrel in London. It advanced 35 cents in the previous session to $ 55.88.
The USDJPY dollar,
it declined to 104.68 yen from 104.75 yen.