Tokyo, Nov. 24, (dpa/GNA) – Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 2.6 per cent on Tuesday following solid gains on Wall Street as investors cheered further progress on the development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The Nikkei added 669.27 points, or 2.62 per cent, to stand at 26,196.64 at 11:30 am (0230 GMT) at the end of the morning session.
The broader Topix index rose 38.41 points, or 2.22 per cent, at 1,765.8.
Japan’s financial markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.12 per cent on Monday and the S&P 500 index also added 0.56 per cent.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford announced on Monday that their Covid-19 vaccine is on average about 70-per-cent effective against the coronavirus.
The vaccine is the third by major Western firms to release concrete test results, although the early clinical data suggests that it is not as powerful as two vaccines already announced by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech.
GNA