Hong Kong’s main stock index, the Hang Seng, firmed about half a percent in Wednesday trading. The market grew mainly due to optimism caused by progress in the development of the coronavirus vaccine, as well as a strengthening of the carmaker’s shares.
Hong Kong shares soared on Wednesday on news of another effective coronavirus vaccine. Major progress has been announced by the pharmaceutical company Moderna, which has come up with a vaccine that has a 94.5 percent effectiveness. Due to the time shift, there was no further positive news on the Hong Kong stock exchange, which was announced by Pfizer and BioNTech, which specified the effectiveness of their jointly developed anti-coronavirus vaccine.
The second strong growth boost for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was the automotive sector. German carmaker Daimler has announced that it plans to work with Chinese car holding Geely Automobile to develop a new generation of engines for hybrid cars. Shares of Geely Automobile Holdings rose nearly nine percent at one point, to their highest level since June 2018. Trading ended the “yen” 6.9 percent stronger than a day earlier.Â
