Asia-Pacific stocks mixed as investors weigh J&J Covid vaccine setback

SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Wednesday morning trade as investors weighed a setback on the Covid vaccination front.

Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher as the Shanghai composite gained 0.23% while the Shenzhen component advanced 0.557%.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 0.4% while the Topix index declined 0.24%. South Korea's Kospi rose slightly.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.36%.

In Southeast Asia, the Straits Times index in Singapore slipped 0.26%. That came despite data showing the country's economy unexpectedly grew 0.2% in the first quarter of 2021 as compared with a year earlier, according to official advance estimates released Wednesday.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares traded 0.4% higher.

Covid developments

Investors watched for market reaction to a Tuesday announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking states to temporarily halt using Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine after six women in the country developed a rare blood-clotting disorder. More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S. to date.

Meanwhile, Moderna said Tuesday that its Covid-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective at protecting against Covid and more than 95% effective against severe disease up to six months after the second dose.

Globally, more than 137 million cases of Covid infections have been recorded and the death toll from the disease has crossed the 2.9 million mark, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 saw a new closing high as it advanced 0.33% to 4,141.59 while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.05% to end its trading day at 13,996.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged as it shed 68.13 points to close at 33,677.27.

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.751 after earlier slipping from above 92.

The Japanese yen traded at 108.83 per dollar, stronger than levels above 109.5 against the greenback seen yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7641, above levels below $0.762 seen earlier this week.

Oil prices rose in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.39% to $63.92 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also advanced 0.4% to $60.42 per barrel.

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