NZ shares rise as optimism over covid drug buoys Asia

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 39.93 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,434.79. Within the index, 25 stocks fell, 18 rose, and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $149.3 million.

The positive sentiment from Wall Street on Friday night spilled over into Asia today. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.7 percent in late trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.9 percent, Shanghai’s Composite Index was up 1.3 percent and Japan’s TOPIX climbed 2.2 percent.

ASB Bank economist Chris Tennent-Brown said markets were ignoring the rising number of new covid-19 cases and focusing on the emergence of possible treatments, such as Gilead’s remdesivir which was shown to support recovery in a field trial of 300 patients.

“We were always going to have a positive day,” said Mark Lister, head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners.