SYDNEY- Asian shares advanced on Monday, underpinned by coronavirus hopes after the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of blood plasma from recovered patients as a treatment option.
The announcement from the US FDA of a so-called “emergency use authorization” came on the eve of the Republican National Convention, where Donald Trump will be nominated to lead his party for four more years.
E-Mini futures for the S&P500 gained 0.3 percent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan jumped 0.65 percent, moving toward a six-month high touched last week.
Japan’s Nikkei reversed early losses to be last up 0.4 percent. Chinese shares rose too with the blue-chip CSI 300 index adding 0.8 percent.
South Korea’s KOSPI, which has been on a slippery slope since hitting a more than two-year peak earlier this month, climbed 0.9 percent.
Sentiment was also supported by a Financial Times report that the Trump administration is considering by-passing normal US regulatory standards to fast-track an experimental coronavirus vaccine from the UK for use in America ahead of the presidential election.
“Markets are opening this morning to optimism on the therapeutics front after the FDA authorized the use of blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors to treat sick patients,” said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp.
“Not the COVID-19 cure all the world is hoping for, but it is another positive step to help patient recovery time and get people back on their feet quicker.”
Analysts still urged caution with Wall Street indexes already at record highs even as the world economy struggled to recover from the once-in-a-century pandemic.
