Asian petchem shares surge on vaccine hopes, ease in worries over US presidency
Nurluqman Suratman
25-Nov-2020
SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Asian shares surged on Wednesday, tracking the rally on Wall Street overnight as the the formal start of Joe Biden’s transition eased worries about the transfer of power in the US presidency.
At 02:55 GMT, Mitsubishi Chemical was up by 2.88% in Tokyo, Sinopec jumped by 5.11% in Hong Kong and SK Innovation was up more than 4% in Seoul.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose by 1.59%, South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI Index rose by 0.49% and Singapore’s STI Index was up by 0.33%.
| Company/Stock Exchange | % Change |
| Nikkei 225 (Tokyo) | 1.59% |
| Asahi Kasei Corp | 1.22% |
| JXTG Holdings, Inc | 0.80% |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp | 2.88% |
| Mitsui Chemicals, Inc | 0.33% |
| Hang Seng Index (Hong Kong) | 1.34% |
| China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) | 5.11% |
| PetroChina | 3.10% |
| KOSPI Composite Index (Seoul) | 0.49% |
| OCI Company | 1.74% |
| SK Innovation | 4.37% |
| LG Chem | 0.63% |
| Lotte Chemical Corp | -1.73% |
| Hanwha Corp | 0.93% |
| TSEC weighted index (Taipei) | 0.38% |
| Formosa Petrochemical Corp | 1.58% |
| Nan Ya Plastics Corp | 0.76% |
| Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp | 1.27% |
| STI Index (Singapore) | 0.33% |
| Wilmar International | 0.23% |
| Olam International | 1.32% |
| FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (Kuala Lumpur) | 0.87% |
| SSE Composite Index (Shanghai) | 0.13% |
| Jakarta Composite Index | 1.09% |
| PT. Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk | 0.28% |
The rally in US stocks extended to Tuesday, with the Dow breaching the 30,000 mark for the first time as Biden’s transition news took centre stage while vaccine optimism continued to fuel risk-on sentiment.
US President-elect Biden’s office was granted formal approval by the US General Service Administration to begin transition, while names for several top cabinet positions were also dropped.
The formal announcement of former US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen potentially being nominated as the next US Treasury Secretary by Biden also added to the positive sentiment.
“This may be music to market ears as she [Yellen] has opined that the US needs to continue extraordinary fiscal support,” Singapore-based OCBC Treasury Research said in a note.
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