Hong Kong, Asia stocks mostly decline after negative reports on clinical trials of much-watched coronavirus drug
- Chinese cancer drugs developer Akeso soars in Hong Kong debut
- Property stocks lead losers on Hang Seng Index; Ali Health tumbles
Hong Kong and most other Asia-Pacific stocks declined Friday after reports that a much-watched experimental drug didn’t help coronavirus patients in a clinical trial.
Meanwhile, as the Congress pushed through more help for small businesses and hospitals, the latest weekly jobless claims out of the US hit 4.4 million, bringing the total number of Americans thrown out of work by the virus over the past five weeks to 26 million. The US has the largest number of cases, at more than 869,000, and deaths, at more than 47,000.
“Optimism around a health care breakthrough allowed investors to look through some of the more horrific economic prints taking a more temporal view towards the virus,” said Stephen Innes, chief global strategist at AxiCorp.
“ … There’s a lot of hope riding on a cure, and with optimism around remdesivir as top view on the health care section, it’s a bit of blow for the market at week’s end,” he continued. “And considering it’s Friday where traders have tended to be more risk-off than on in weeks past, it could be a bit of struggle today to make hay as no one likes to be greeted with sour cream headlines in their Friday morning coffee.”
The Hang Seng Index finished down 0.6 per cent at 23,831.33. For the week, it lost 2.3 per cent.
Chinese cancer drugs developer Akeso soared in its Hong Kong debut.