Asian Stock Market: Struggles to ignore Wall Street’s losses despite gains in China

• Asian shares trade mixed even as equities in Beijing rally.
• Vaccine optimism, doubts over Biden’s tax plan back the bulls.
• Covid woes in India, Japan’s readiness for emergencies in Tokyo and three prefectures weigh on market sentiment.
• Preliminary PMIs for April become the key amid global claims of faster economic recovery.

Markets in Asia fail to cheer China’s upbeat performance during early Friday. The reason could be traced from the coronavirus (COVID-19) fears in the region and the previous day’s losses on Wall Street.

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MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares, ex-Japan, rises 0.45% but Japan’s Nikkei 225 drops 0.80% by the press time of the pre-European session.

Aussie stocks couldn’t cheer welcome prints of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) preliminary PMIs for April on finding the first covid infection at home in multiple days. Though, New Zealand’s NZX 50 gain over half a percent while copying moves from China.

Beijing benefits from a run-up in blue-chip equities while shares in Hong Kong, South Korea and Indonesia follow the suit, although with mild reaction.

On a broader front, S&P 500 Futures rise 0.20% and the US 10-year Treasury yield snap a three-day losing streak when being around 1.56%. Expectations of the Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to regain acceptance after today's key verdict in the US while faster jabbing in Canada and the UK’s confirmation that inoculation is benefitting amid the pandemic also favor the risk-on mood.

Read: S&P 500 Futures: Mildly bid as vaccine hopes battle Biden’s tax hike proposal, covid fears

Although covid fears from India and Japan are likely to keep Asian markets pressured, expected strong Markit PMIs for Eurozone, the US and the UK may restore investor confidence.