Asian stocks open mixed

Asian stock indices opened the second session of the week mixed, with Australia, Hong Kong, and South Korea higher, while China and New Zealand lost ground. 

Moderna announced that its Covid 19 vaccine has proven 94.5% effective days after Pfizer and BioNTech announced similar results. 

Both companies will apply for emergency use licenses, as the World Health Organization welcomed the development of the vaccines, while noting the Pfizer vaccine requires up to $4.5 billion to be ready by early next year. 

The WHO reported 54.3 million global cases of Covid 19 so far, with the death toll at 1.316 million.

The Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes of its last meeting, indicating the bank has no plans to cut rates but rather to buy up bonds, while estimating a 6% growth rate in the year ending June 2021.

Japan's TOPEX fell 0.26%, while Nikkei 225 climbed 0.03% to 25,913. 

China's CSI 300 fell 0.24%, while Shanghai fell 0.16% to 3,341.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.01%, while South Korea's KOSPI climbed 0.12% to 2,546. 

New Zealand's NZX 50 fell 0.18%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.28% to 6,502.