Asian stocks near 4-month highs on vaccine hopes, eyes on U.S. payrolls – Gulf Today

Asian stocks near 4-month highs on vaccine hopes, eyes on U.S. payrolls – Gulf Today

Asian stocks near 4-month highs on vaccine hopes, eyes on US payrolls

an hour ago

Picture used for illustration. File

Asian stocks hovered near four-month highs on Thursday on hopes of a vaccine for COVID-19 while copper prices jumped to a more than six-month peak on a better global outlook and supply fears in top producer Chile.

All eyes are on US employment data, due later in the day, which are expected to offer further cues into how the world's largest economy is coping with a rise in coronavirus cases in several states.

In a sign the positive sentiment will extend elsewhere, E-minis for S&P500 rose 0.3% while futures for Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.8% and those for Germany's DAX climbed 0.8%. London's FTSE futures added 0.6%.

Risk sentiment was whetted by a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech, which was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials. 

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