Asian stock markets soar on back of Pfizer vaccine (except China)

The US company's anti-Covid vaccine is reportedly 90% effective. Singapore and Mumbai registered the most enthusiastic response on exchanges. Testing of a Chinese vaccine blocked in Brazil. The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges are losing ground.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Most Asian stock markets made positive gains on the back of the good news that the coronavirus vaccine produced by the US Pfizer and the German BioNTech seems effective. By mid-afternoon, Singapore had rebounded significantly following the announcement, with + 2.96%, followed by Mumbai with + 1.11%. Hong Kong (0.75%), Sidney (0.66%), Tokyo (0.26%) and Seoul (0.23%) are also positive.

Yesterday Pfizer and BioNtech announced that their vaccine against Covid-19 is 90% effective. At the moment there are about ten vaccines in the last stages of experimentation. Three of them are being manufactured by Chinese pharmaceutical companies. Before ending "phase three" of the trial, Beijing began administering the treatment to hundreds of thousands of people under an emergency program.

The world scientific community has expressed doubts on the efficacy of inoculated vaccines without having completed all the phases of the study. Anvisa, the Brazilian health control authority, said yesterday that clinical trials for CoronaVac, the vaccine that China's Sinovac is testing in Brazil, has been interrupted. The administration of the drug would have given rise to "serious" side effects in at least one patient.

The indices on Chinese stock exchanges are today in contrast with the other Asian ones. Shanghai is approaching close with -0.40%; Shenzhen is faring worse, with a 1.05% decline. However, the negative data of the Chinese market would not derive from the problems of the vaccine developed by Sinovac. According to analysts in China, given that their country has brilliantly passed the first phase of the pandemic, there is no urgent demand for the Covid vaccine.

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