{"id":293448,"date":"2020-11-17T06:14:43","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T19:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gomarketingteam.com\/articles\/today-in-asia-17-november-2020\/"},"modified":"2021-02-19T12:13:10","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T01:13:10","slug":"today-in-asia-17-november-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gomarkets.com\/en\/daily-news\/today-in-asia-17-november-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Today in Asia – 17 November 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Deepta Bolaky<\/strong>
\n\u00a0@DeeptaGOMarkets<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Asian markets had a strong start to the week following the signing of the world\u2019s largest free trade agreement<\/a> by fifteen Asia-Pacific countries after more than eight years of tricky negotiations. The agreement binds together countries which make up of nearly a third of the world\u2019s population or 30% of global gross domestic product (GDP).<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Asia-Pacific region extended gains, buoyed by another pivotal vaccine moment which increases expectations that the coronavirus pandemic may soon come under control with a potential vaccine in the making. After Pfizer and BioNtech, Moderna Inc. announced that the Phase 3 study met the statistical criteria with a vaccine efficacy of 94.5%.<\/p>\n

As of writing, the performance in the stock market in the Asia-Pacific region was mixed as major equity indices pared earlier gains.<\/p>\n

World Equity Indices (% Change)<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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\nSource: Bloomberg<\/p>\n

In the Australian share market, the S&P\/ASX200 has resumed trading at the normal time at 10 am (AEST time) today after a market outage has forced the ASX to close earlier on Monday. The ASX200 closed in positive territory and added 0.2% or 14 points to 6,498 points. The sector performance was mixed with the energy index being the best performers following the positive vaccine updates.<\/p>\n

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\nSource: Bloomberg Terminal<\/p>\n

Unibail Rodamco- Westfield, the real estate company which focus on large shopping centers rallied by 16.3% on Tuesday following more promising news on the vaccine front.<\/p>\n

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\nSource: Bloomberg Terminal<\/p>\n

Currency Markets<\/strong><\/h4>\n

There was little movement in the FX market. Major currencies were mixed against the US dollar and major pairs remained within familiar levels.<\/p>\n

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\nSource: Bloomberg Terminal<\/p>\n

Oil Markets<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Crude oil prices continue to climb higher on another positive vaccine news following Moderna\u2019s announcement. Amid the current lockdowns and social distancing measures, the news on the vaccine fuelled the hopes of the global oil demand recovery outlook. As of writing, WTI Crude oil (Nymex) and Brent Crude (ICE) were trading at around $41.66 and $44.21 respectively.<\/p>\n

Other Notable News<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The breaking news today was Tesla announcement to join the S&P500 on December 21. The electric-car maker\u2019s share price rose by more than 11% in after-trading hours.<\/p>\n

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Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/h5>\n