By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Asian stocks were mostly up on Tuesday morning, following an overnight rally in U.S. markets over renewed hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Positive results from not one, but three potential vaccines were released on Monday. Oxford University reported a promising immune response during early-stage human trials for its candidate ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, which it is developing with AstraZeneca (LON:AZN). The other two candidates are being developed by CanSino Biologics (HK:6185) alongside China’s military research unit, and German biotech BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) and U.S. drugmaker Pfizer (NYSE:PFE).
Also boosting investor sentiment was the European Union edging closer to an agreement on a EUR750 billion ($857.979 billion) stimulus plan, despite negotiations dragging beyond a fourth day. Across the Atlantic, the U.S. Congress is currently debating a further round of economic stimulus, with some earlier measures set to expire at the end of the July.
But the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, with over 14.6 million cases globally as of July 21, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
“The market, particularly tech stocks, is rallying on both good news and bad news, that tells us it’s all about momentum and not about the facts,” Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty, told Bloomberg.
“There are concerns we could see significant pullbacks before we make further gains, but at the moment you can’t stand in front of the train that is the Nasdaq 100 Index.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.56% by 11:14 PM ET (4:14 AM GMT), and South Korea’s KOSPI gained 1.35%.
Down Under, the ASX 200 jumped 1.37%. The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to release the minutes from its June meeting later in the day, with Governor Philip Lowe also scheduled to give a speech.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up by 1.40%. The city is contemplating tighter lockdown measures to curb a third wave of cases, after reporting 73 new cases on Monday.
China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.27%, reversing some earlier gains. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen Component gained a modest 0.30%.