Asia markets rise on vaccines, signs of US stimulus progress

December 16, 2020: Markets rose in Asia on Wednesday thanks to US stimulus talks, Brexit hopes and vaccine rollouts, but a surge in virus cases and lockdown measures continued to cause a tug-of-war between long-term optimism and near-term pain.

After months of stuttering talks between lawmakers in Washington, there appear to be signs of progress on a new rescue package for the world's top economy as they discuss a bipartisan package.

High-level politicians from both sides remain locked in talks to resolve their differences before the end of the year, when millions of Americans could lose crucial support.

The lawmakers are working on a plan that strips out two contentious issues that had kept Democrats and Republicans from making a deal, while they are also looking to tie any new package in the passage of a so-called omnibus bill to keep the government-funded.

"We're still talking to each other, and I think there's an agreement that we're not going to leave here without the Omni and a Covid package," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

Hopes for a breakthrough helped fire a rally on Wall Street on Tuesday, with all three main indexes ending more than one percent higher.

That helped Asia to post healthy gains, helping pare losses following a weak start to the week.

Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai were all up, while Sydney, Taipei, Wellington and Jakarta each rose more than one percent. There were also gains in Singapore and Manila.

Hopes that the economy can get back on track next year were given an extra lift Tuesday when the European Medicines Agency said it had brought forward a meeting to decide on authorizing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by more than a week to December 21.

The drug is already being administered in Britain, the US and Canada.

AFP/APP