Asian equities fall as vaccine trials stall

By Suzanne Barlyn and Swati Pandey

NEW YORK / SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian stocks fell on Wednesday as the suspension of COVID-19 vaccine trials and a stalemate in talks over the US fiscal aid package soured risk appetite. while the dollar held on to gains as demand for safe harbor assets strengthened.

Johnson & Johnson (N 🙂 said Tuesday it was pausing a COVID-19 vaccine trial due to the unexplained illness of a study participant.

Eli Lilly and Co (N 🙂 later said that it had also stopped the clinical trial of its COVID-19 antibody treatment due to a safety concern, prompting the US stock market to deepen losses.

Shares in J&J lost 2.3%, while Eli Lilly closed down almost 3%.

“That just speaks to the fact that a vaccine could take longer to deliver than market expectations are calibrated,” said CommSec market analyst Tom Piotrowski in Sydney.

MSCI’s broader Asia Pacific equity index outside of Japan () fell 0.2%. Japan’s Nikkei () fell 0.2%, while Australia’s benchmark () deviated and South Korea () fell 0.7%.

Chinese stocks also opened in the red with the CSI300 () top-line down 0.3%.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average () fell 0.5%, the S&P 500 () lost 0.63% and the Nasdaq Composite () lost 0.1%.

Also weighing on sentiment, hopes for the approval of a new coronavirus aid package were dashed when the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, rejected a 1-year White House aid proposal. 8 trillion dollars.

“The US stimulus talks are still going nowhere clouding the prospect of a new round of support on this side of the election,” said Sydney-based NAB strategist Rodrigo Catril.

“So for now it is difficult to see an agreement reached before November 3, the market is still traveling with the idea that a new round of stimulus is coming, but at this stage this seems more likely after the elections. “.

E-mini futures for the S&P 500 they rose slightly in early Asian trades.

In currencies, the US dollar boasted its best daily performance in three weeks on Tuesday with its index () against a basket of six major currencies rising 0.5%. The latest index was flat at 93,533.

The euro () barely changed to $ 1.1742.

The Australian dollar has been hit by news that China has stopped receiving Australian coal shipments, dragging the dollar to a week-long lows. It was the last time it floated on water at $ 0.7163.

The Japanese yen gained against the dollar at 105.32 per dollar, while the British pound It was last trading at $ 1.2932.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Tuesday that he did not believe the economy was experiencing a V-shaped recovery, due to the headwind of a second wave of COVID-19 and underlying public caution over spending and socialization after the pandemic.

Investors are also watching the tension between the European Union and the UK after the EU demanded a “substantive” move on Tuesday on fishing, dispute resolution and fair competition guarantees in their talks on a post-Brexit trade deal.

EU leaders will hold a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to assess progress.

In raw materials, the price was 0.2% $ 1,887.33 an ounce.

Oil also fell, with Brent () and US crude () down 8 cents each to $ 42.37 and $ 40.1 a barrel, respectively.