GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks gain after vaccine hopes push Wall Street to record highs

By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Asian stocks opened firmer on
Tuesday after the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes hit record highs
on news of another promising coronavirus vaccine, which
supported hopes of a quicker economic recovery.
Investor sentiment shot up after Moderna Inc MRNA.O said
its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in
preventing infection based on interim late-state data.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm became the second
drugmaker, after Pfizer Inc PFE.N , to announce promising trial
data in the development of a vaccine to defeat the pandemic. Its
shares gained 9.6% on the day. "This is a continuation of what we saw last week as the
vaccine being a catalyst for a rotation into cyclical sectors
such as energy, financials, and defense with expectations for
renewed demand and travel," said Thomas Hayes, managing member
at Great Hill Capital in New York.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 .AXJO rose 0.6% in early trading,
while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures .HSI HSIc1 gained
0.27%. Japan's Nikkei 225 .N225 climbed 0.5%.
All three main Wall Street indexes advanced on Monday, with
the Dow Jones Industrials Average setting a record as it neared
the 30,000 mark for the first time in nine months. The benchmark
Dow is the last of the three to reclaim levels reached in
February, before lockdowns sent the markets into free-fall. The
S&P 500 surpassed its own record set on Friday.
Cyclical and small cap names, which generally benefit the
soonest as an economy recovers from a recession, led the way,
with energy .SPNY , industrials .SPLRCI and financials
.SPSY the top-performing sectors.
Travel-related stocks, which have been clobbered by
coronavirus lockdowns, were also in demand. Shares of United
Airlines Holdings Inc UAL.O , American Airlines Group Inc
AAL.O , Carnival Corp CCL.N and Norwegian Cruise Line
Holdings Ltd NCLH.N jumped between 4.5% and 9.7%.
"The light switch has really be turned on and this is the
real deal unlike some months back," Hayes said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
1.6%, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.16%, and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 0.8%.
Oil prices rose on the prospects of an end of pandemic
restrictions that have hit demand. Prices were also buoyed by
data showing a rebound in China and Japan, with figures showing
Chinese refineries processed record daily levels of crude in
October. U.S. crude CLc1 settled up 3.02% at $41.34 per barrel and
Brent LCOc1 was at $43.82, up 2.43% on the day. Treasury yields rose on Monday and the yield curve
steepened in the wake of the vaccine developments. Benchmark
10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 5/32 in price to yield
0.9094%, from 0.893% late on Friday. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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