Ancestries in Asia jumped on Thursday morning as investors in the region digested recent developments surrounding the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Ancestries in Japan led gains among major regional markets, with the Nikkei 225 up 1.83% and the Topix index obtaining 1.73%. South Korea’s Kospi also added 1.71% as shares of Hyundai Motor soared more than 4%.
In the intervening time, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.2%. In mainland China, the Shanghai composite rose 0.2% while the Shenzhen composite yielded 0.461%. The Shenzhen component also advanced about 0.2%.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained around 0.7%. The removes came as a Thursday data release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the country’s retail sales turnover diminished 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis in December as compared to November.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index interchanged 0.84% higher.
The moves came as investors reacted to overnight developments on the coronavirus outbreak, following unconfirmed come ins of breakthroughs in the development of a drug for the disease.
Reuters cited reports on Wednesday that said a research team at Zhejiang University had organize a drug to treat people infected by the new coronavirus. The World Health Organization, however, said in a statement: “There are no certain effective therapeutics against this 2019-nCoV.”
Meanwhile, a scientist leading the U.K.’s research into a coronavirus vaccine proclaimed Sky News on Wednesday that his team had made a “significant breakthrough” by cutting a portion of the normal development time to 14 times from two to three years.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1% to touch a record closing high-pitched of 3,334.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended its trading day 483.22 points higher at 29,290.85 while the Nasdaq Composite tight-lipped 0.4% higher at 9,508.68.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 98.295 after get up from lows around 97.9 earlier.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.82 per dollar after weakening from positions below 109.5 yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6753 after touching an earlier low of $0.6741.
Oil prices get ahead in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures adding 1.14% to $55.91 per barrel. U.S. natural futures also gained 1.46% to $51.49 per barrel.
Here’s a look ahead at what’s on tap today:
- India: Fund Bank of India policy statement at 2:15 p.m. HK/SIN
- Philippines: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monetary Board Meeting & Arbitration at 4:00 p.m. HK/SIN
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.