By Asian share markets mostly rose on Tuesday as global investors applauded successful trial data for a coronavirus vaccine, although expected delays to any mass rollout took the gloss off early gains.
European futures trading during the Asian session were indicating a weaker open of at least 1.2, while U.S. futures showed a potential fall of at least 0.5 after Mondays steep market gains.
The positive tone in Asian equities came after Pfizer Inc said its COVID19 vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech SE, was more than 90 effective in preventing infection, marking the first successful results from a largescale clinical trial.
Major Asian markets soared on the vaccine news before weakening later in the session.
Japan39;s Nikkei 225 ended up nearly 0.3 after being 1.1 higher in early trading, touching a 29year high.
Australia39;s SPASX 200 closed 0.66 higher after trading up as much as 1.6, while Hong Kong39;s Hang Seng index was at 0.77 in the afternoon after rising 1 in early trade.
Singapore39;s Straits Times gained 2.94 to take the index to its highest point since June.
Despite the optimistic tone across the region, there was some weakness in China, with the CSI300 Index slipping 0.17.
Analysts attributed the decline to the heavy exposure of Chinas indices to tech stocks, which came under pressure as investors eyed less consumer reliance on technology if a vaccine leads to an easing of movement restrictions.
MSCI39;s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares…
