Asia opens higher on Covid 19 vaccine hopes

Asian stock indices opened the second session of the week higher on hopes for Covid 19 vaccination after both Pfizer and Moderna announced the start of their late stage Covid 19 vaccine trials with over 30,000 participants each, with results expected by November. 

Losses by the Japanese car industry hurt Japanese stocks, with Mitsubishi tumbling 10% after announcing forecasts of a 1.329 billion operational loss in the current financial year. 

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell revealed the Republican rescue bill for the economy, amounting to $1 trillion for the unemployed and other affected sectors of society.  

Japan's TOPEX rose 0.21%, while Nikkei 225 climbed 0.35% to 22,794. 

China's CSI 300 rallied 1.17%, while Shanghai rose 1.06% to 3,239. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.97%, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.7% to 2,255. 

New Zealand's NZX 50 rose 0.79%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.42% to 6,069.