European, Asian shares gain on vaccine cheer

Gulf Today Report

European shares reach February highs on Wednesday on the hope of development in COVID-19 vaccine and US stimulus package.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index and London's FTSE 100 both climbed 0.5%. Germany's DAX jumped as much as 1.3% to a three-month peak.

Foreign trade aided the growth of Europe’s largest economy, Germany at the start of Q4. 

Autos, banks and oil led the gains in Europe, increasing above 1 per cent. 

The tech sector on the other hand dipped by 11.7 per cent followings it $12 billion annual sales target by 2023.  

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Asian shares

Asian shares advanced on Wednesday following the record gains on Wall Street.

Benchmarks rose in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul. Shanghai edged lower after China reported that its consumer price index slipped 0.5% in November compared with a year earlier.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.1% to 26,769.31, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.9% to 26,539.55. In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.5% to 2,738.67. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.6% to 6728.50, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.3% to 3,399.64. 

India's Sensex climbed 0.6% to 45,899.77. Shares were also higher in Southeast Asia.

According to Capital Economics, consumer price inflation remained at 0.5% from a year earlier.

The S&P 500 jumped 0.3%, the Nasdaq also reached a record high. 

Small-company stocks rose much more than the rest of the market, a signal that investors are feeling more optimistic about the economy. The Russell 2000 index climbed 1.4%, to 1,917.78.