U.S. equities, vaccine hopes send Asian shares up

Asian share markets had seen an upbeat trading session on Friday. Gains across the region were mainly from a jump in U.S. equities as bright economic expectations, coronavirus vaccine rollouts, and inflation heavily supported investors’ enthusiasm.

During Asia’s early trade, futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 tallied a 0.30% increase. MSCI’s index across the globe traded 0.14% higher, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan performed 0.55% lower.

Japan’s Nikkei advanced 1.14% during its overnight session as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures recorded a 0.37% gain.

While a sell-off in Chinese technology shares weighed on shares’ performance, investors’ sentiment was still supported by U.S. President Joe Biden’s pledge of doubling the country’s vaccination plan.  The announcement came after Biden successfully rolled out 100 million vaccine shots 42 days ahead of schedule.