On the stock markets of the Asia-Pacific region, there is a multidirectional movement of the main exchange indicators today. Market participants show an extremely contradictory and very ambiguous attitude.
The latest news about the process of developing and implementing a vaccine against coronavirus infection has had a rather encouraging effect on investors. However, the joy was somewhat overshadowed by statistics on the number of infected COVID-19 in the world in general and in certain regions in particular. The news shows that the rapid growth in the number of patients does not stop and continues to gain momentum.
Experts from the United States Food and Drug Administration are in favor of immediate emergency approval and subsequent use of the coronavirus vaccine, which was jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. It is assumed that the position of experts should have an impact on the fact that the country's authorities will soon make a positive decision and issue all the necessary permits for the mass introduction of drugs.
A negative factor was the news about the difficulties that arose in the negotiation process regarding the adoption of a new program of financial incentives in the United States. Recall that Republicans and Democrats have been actively discussing this bill over the past weeks, but now it turns out that there are many more disagreements on it than there were before. In particular, the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said that he does not see adequate solutions to such issues as providing financial assistance to local authorities, protecting businesses from the negative consequences of coronavirus infection.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.29%.
China's Shanghai Composite index sank 0.99%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, on the contrary, showed positive dynamics and went up by 0.42%.
South Korea's KOSPI index rose 0.91%.
Australia's S&P / ASX 200 index was down 0.61%.
The stock markets in Europe today recorded a negative trend. It was caused by stalled negotiations between the UK and the EU over Brexit.
The general index of large enterprises in the European region STOXX Europe 600 was 0.74% lower this morning. This caused it to move to the level of 390.26 points.
The UK FTSE 100 index declined 0.51%. Germany's DAX index parted with 0.88%. France's CAC 40 index was down 0.76%. Italy's FTSE MIB index posted a loss of 0.76%. Spain's IBEX 35 index declined by 1.72% and became the leader of the fall today.
It was revealed yesterday that the UK is likely to have to prepare for the fact that a trade agreement with the European Union will not be signed until the end of the Brexit transition period. However, earlier all hopes were pinned on this period.
In addition, yesterday, European leaders were finally able to sign the next budget totaling $ 2.2 trillion. A draft law on emergency measures of financial assistance to the region's economy for 750 billion euros has also been approved.
