Japan’s state of emergency to combat surging coronavirus cases, which kicked in Friday, did little to dampen market optimism. The benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.7% in morning trading to 27,965.50.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 2.5% to 3,107.39, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.3% to 6,734.50. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added nearly 0.9% to 27,788.46, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to 3,575.60.
Regional share prices were boosted by major U.S. stock indexes surging to all-time highs, said an AP report.
The rally was broad-based, though the S&P 500′s technology sector notched the biggest gain, recouping losses after a pullback a day earlier. The Dow gained 0.7% to 31,041.13. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.6% to 13,067.48. The Russell 2000 picked up 1.9% to 2,096.89.
Wall Street’s latest rally adds to gains from a day before, when stocks rose on the results of two Senate runoff elections in Georgia that went to the Democrats. Investors are largely looking past the current political ugliness — and the pandemic’s acceleration around the world — and are focusing instead on prospects for an improving economy.
Hopes are also growing about the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to help daily life around the world get closer to normal. That has investors anticipating a explosive return to growth for corporate profits later this year.
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