24.11.202012:55 Forex Analysis & Reviews: Stock markets in Europe and Asia remain positive after consecutive introductions of potential COVID-19 vaccine to masses

The positive mood continues to dominate on the Asia-Pacific Stock Exchanges (APX) on Tuesday morning. The major stock indexes are rising amid some pretty good news about the development of a vaccine against coronavirus infection.

On Tuesday, there were reports that another company, AstraZeneca from the UK, is ready to introduce its drug against COVID-19 in the near future. It is currently said to be in the last stage of clinical trials. And even though it still has the lowest effectiveness compared to other vaccines already available – with only 70%, market participants were encouraged by the fact that pharmaceutical companies are so actively developing that the situation with coronavirus may change for the better in the near future.

Political news coming from the US also contributes to the stabilization of the world's stock markets. In particular, the President of the country, Donald Trump, declared his readiness to transfer power to Joe Biden. All necessary orders have already been made in this regard. In addition, Biden himself expressed his intention to nominate the former head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, as the country's Finance Minister. If her candidacy is approved, Yellen will become the first woman in this post. Moreover, it will largely determine the course of the recovery of the American economy from the consequences of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This news had a rather encouraging effect on market participants, as there were all signs that the situation in the US is gradually ceasing to be tense and uncertain at the same time.

Trading platforms in Japan opened this morning after the holiday. The country's main indicator, the Nikkei 225, immediately showed an increase of 2.5%.

China's Shanghai Composite index, on the contrary, showed negative dynamics losing 0.2%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index did not support the negative trend and increased slightly by 0.1%.

South Korea's KOSPI index rose 0.5%. At the same time, statistics on the country's economy were also positive. In particular, the overall index in the consumer confidence sector for the last month of autumn became larger and reached 97.9 points. Recall that its previous value was located at the level of 91.6 points. The value of the current month is still the maximum since the beginning of the current year.

The Australian S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.26%.

The European stock exchanges also exhibited positive dynamics. It strengthened immediately upon reports that the presidential powers would soon pass into the hands of Joe Biden.

The great optimism of market participants is associated, among other things, with hopes for the release of the coronavirus vaccine from the British company AstraZeneca. If it manages to pass all the formalities in the near future, it will be able to get permission from the authorities to use it very soon. According to preliminary data, immunization of the population with this drug may begin at the very beginning of December. However, analysts are trying to warn against the consequences of excessive hype about this, since all the results of the study are still inconclusive.

The general index of large enterprises in the European region STOXX Europe 600 was 0.58% higher in the morning and reached the level of 391.11 points.

The UK FTSE 100 Index gained 0.88%. The German DAX Index gained 0.9%. France's CAC 40 Index rose 1.25%. The Italian FTSE index went up 1.55% and became the leader of the growth. Spain's IBEX 35 Index climbed 1.1%.