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

By Alun John and Chibuike Oguh
HONG KONG/NEW YORK, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Asian stocks
cautiously pushed further into record territory on Tuesday, and
oil edged higher after U.S. benchmarks were pepped up by news of
another promising coronavirus vaccine.
Investor sentiment was given a boost when 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. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS gained 0.11% on Tuesday morning, a day after
hitting its highest level since launching in 1987.
The MSCI World Index of global shares .MIWD00000PUS which
also hit a record high on Monday, ticked higher still in Asia's
morning trading.
"Investors are looking further ahead in the pandemic
development into 2021, instead of focusing on the very
challenging outbreak that's taking place in the U.S. and Europe
now," said Tai Hui, chief Asia market strategist, J.P. Morgan
Asset Management, in emailed comments.
Hong Kong benchmark .HSI rose 0.1% and Australia's S&P/ASX
200 .AXJO rose 0.23%, after Monday's trading had been severely
curtailed by a software glitch Japan's Nikkei 225 .N225 fell 0.2% after hitting a 29 year
high the day before.
All three main Wall Street indexes advanced on Monday, led
by cyclical and small cap names, with the Dow Jones Industrials
Average setting a record as it neared the 30,000 mark for the
first time in nine months.
"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.
The same sentiment helped oil prices hold onto Monday's
gains.
U.S. crude CLc1 on Tuesday morning was at $41.36 per
barrel little changed after rising 3.02% on Monday and Brent
LCOc1 rose 0.3% after an earlier rise of 2.43%. currency markets, China's central bank on Tuesday lifted
its official yuan midpoint to the highest in nearly 29 months,
underpinned by solid gains in spot prices a day earlier on the
back of strong economic data. The positive news helped the risk friendly Australian dollar
AUD=D4 , which rose to a one week high against the dollar, but
rising case numbers in the United States meant the dollar was
broadly flat against the safe haven yen JPY=D3 .
U.S. Treasury yields rose on Monday and the yield curve
steepened in the wake of the vaccine developments. The yield on
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR was last at 0.9012%, from
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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