The sentiment in the Asian stock markets has worsened today. The main indices are sliding following the negative dynamics in the US stock market.
In the morning session, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dropped by 0.48%.
China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.31% and was one of the few to post gains. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index did not follow the trend and fell by 0.51%.
South Korea's KOSPI index decreased slightly by 0.04%.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 was able to gain 0.25%. This is the second indicator in the region that did not react to investors' pessimism and continued its upward movement which started several sessions ago.
However, the economic data of the country is not inspiring. In particular, the unemployment rate increased by 7% in October. In the previous month, the unemployment rate rose by 6.9%. Thus, this indicator has already reached its high which was last recorded in the middle of last summer. The rapid decline in economic indicators is caused by the coronavirus-driven crisis in Australia. However, the fact that analysts expected a stronger decline by 7.2% means that the situation is not so disturbing yet. This helped offset the overall negative sentiment.
The number of jobs in Australia increased by 178,800 totaling 12.774 million. In this case, the forecasts were far from reality as analysts predicted a drop by about 30,000 jobs. At the same time, the number of unemployed decreased by 25,500 and reached 960,900.
According to analysts, the biggest pressure on the global stock markets, including the Asian one, comes from the news of a successful vaccine trial against the coronavirus infection. However, the euphoria over its mass use has faded away. Investors began to re-evaluate the news which revealed that the vaccine will be available to a wide range of people no earlier than six months. During this time, the situation around the spread of COVID-19 may worsen, although market participants are already aware of the current risks.
According to the latest news, the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is due for regulatory approval in the next few days. The US company Moderna is likely to follow the same scenario.
Today, the negative sentiment in the European stock markets has also pushed the major indices down. It seems that the news of successful vaccine trials no longer drives the market.
It is reported that the vaccine, which was jointly developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, turned out to be completely safe and effective. However, the available study is still insufficient to begin its mass production.
Therefore, the rising number of new coronavirus cases in the region worsens the economic outlook. The authorities have again stressed that the situation around the pandemic is extremely difficult and is still far from improvement.
The general index of large enterprises in the European region, STOXX Europe 600, has fallen by 0.85% to reach 387.21 points.
The UK FTSE 100 Index sank by 0.92%. The German DAX Index dropped by 0.94%. France's CAC 40 Index lost 0.87%. Italy's FTSE Index fell by 0.45%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index was down by 0.96%, its biggest loss to date.
