Record high stocks bask in November reign

[November 17, 2020]  By Alun John and Chibuike Oguh

HONG KONG/NEW YORK (Reuters) - World stock markets grabbed a well-earned breather on Tuesday after a second major coronavirus vaccine boost in the space of a week had propelled them higher again and put Europe on course for its best month in nearly three decades.

The pan-European STOXX 600 dipped 0.2% in early moves but there was little sign of an end to the November bull run that has also seen confidence-sensitive commodities and emerging markets surge.

MSCI's main 49-country world stocks index was perched at a record high having risen 11% and all but once this month, while China's yuan hit a near 2-1/2 year peak in the currency markets as the U.S. dollar continued to sag.

Investors are in "full bull" mode, BofA's monthly investor survey showed on Tuesday.

With global economic growth and profit expectations running at a 20-year high among those the bank surveyed, the "reopening rotation" back into coronavirus-hit sctors is likely to continue for the rest of the year, BofA added, although they did also recommend cashing in in the coming weeks or months.

The latest boost come from Moderna which said on Monday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing infection based on interim late-stage data.

The U.S.-based firm became the second drugmaker, after Pfizer, to announce promising data. Its shares gained 9.6% on the day.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.2% overnight, a day after hitting its highest level since launching in 1987.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% after hitting a 29-year high the day before, but Chinese blue chips dipped as recent bond defaults hit sentiment.

"The market is assuming that we can see the end of the tunnel, that in 2022 a large part of the world's population will start to receive access to vaccines," said Herald van der Linde, HSBC's head of equity strategy for Asia Pacific.

There were initial indications that this was sparking a change in investors' attitudes, he added.

OIL ON THE BOIL

The positive vaccine news helped oil prices add to their 16% November gains.

U.S. crude inched up to $41.57 per barrel after rising 3.02% on Monday, and Brent gained 0.7% after a 2.43% jump the day before.

A man wearing a protective face mask, following an outbreak of the coronavirus, talks on his mobile phone in front of a screen showing the Nikkei index outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, February 26, 2020. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

In currency markets, China's central bank on Tuesday lifted its official yuan midpoint to the highest in nearly 29 months, underpinned by solid gains in spot prices a day earlier on the back of strong economic data.

The vaccine news also helped the risk-friendly Australian dollar, which climbed to a one-week high against its U.S. counterpart. Rising virus case numbers in the United States clouded views on the dollar, which dropped against a basket of major currencies.

Euro zone bond markets showed little reaction to Hungary and Poland's veto of the EU's budget and recovery fund in early Tuesday trade.

Italy was expected to sell a U.S. dollar bond while China was preparing for a potentially record euro-denominated bond sale which was due to be finalised on Wednesday.

Euro zone bonds, which sold off moderately and then recouped losses later on Monday, were steady in early Tuesday trade, with Germany's 10-year benchmark yield at -0.55% and Italy's 10-year yield at 0.61%.

The closely watched gap between Italian and German 10-year yields -- effectively the risk premium on debt from Italy, one of the main beneficiaries of the recovery fund - was near its lowest since early 2018 at around 115 basis points.

The lack of market reactions "tend to reflect the market's view that the EU will find a way to hammer out a compromise that keeps all parties roughly happy," Andy Cossor, a strategist at DZ Bank, said of the Polish and Hungarian vetoes.

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Sam Holmes and Stephen Coates)

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.