Asian shares buoyed by coronavirus vaccine hopes

Asian shares buoyed by coronavirus vaccine hopes

Asian shares buoyed by coronavirus vaccine hopes

4 hours ago

Picture used for illustrative purpose. File

Asian shares firmed on Monday on renewed hopes for a coronavirus vaccine after AstraZeneca resumed its phase-3 trial though sentiment was still cautious ahead of a big week of central bank meetings in UK, Japan and the United States.

Most major markets across Asia were in the green with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares  outside Japan rising 0.9% for its second straight session of gains.

Australian shares climbed 0.6% while Japan's Nikkei added 0.7%. Chinese shares started firm but pared some of the early gains with the blue-chip index last up 0.1%.

Friday marked six months since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a pandemic on March 11.

Since then, major global economies have slipped into recession and