Asia Stocks Rise on Friday after Pfizer Seeks Regulatory Review on Vaccine in Oct.

Stocks in Asia edged higher on Friday after a sequential plummet this week due to concerns over the rising coronavirus cases and the slower economic outlook. Meanwhile, Pfizer announced that its COVID-19 vaccine is on track to seek regulatory review in October.

 

As of 8:50 local time in Thailand (GMT+7), Nikkei rose 0.40%, SSEC increased 0.68%, HSI gained 0.466%, ASX 200 advanced 0.10% and Kospi hiked 0.74%.

 

Yesterday, Pfizer said that 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine will be available this year upon approval of the regulator, while the company sees supply of 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

The report from Pfizer stated that the drug showed strong immunogenicity in younger, older adults with fewer side effects than the previous one. The drug was tested in 11,000 participants.

 

Meanwhile, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members on August 19, 2020, expressed concerns over the economy affected by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak since March and would weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term and was posing considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term.

Fed’s Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated the consensus of the meeting, saying that the U.S. economy needs more fiscal help from Congress, which was now unable to pass due to what people called a “petty political”