Global shares rise after US stocks gain for 5th day | National News

A currency trader passes by screens showing foreign exchange rates at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 16, 2021. Asian shares mostly rose on Tuesday, cheered by a rally to all-time highs on Wall Street, though worries over the slow pace of coronavirus vaccinations in the region were weighing on sentiment.

A currency trader talks with her colleague at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 16, 2021. Asian shares mostly rose on Tuesday, cheered by a rally to all-time highs on Wall Street, though worries over the slow pace of coronavirus vaccinations in the region were weighing on sentiment.

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 16, 2021. Asian shares mostly rose on Tuesday, cheered by a rally to all-time highs on Wall Street, though worries over the slow pace of coronavirus vaccinations in the region were weighing on sentiment.

FILE – In this Nov. 23, 2020 file photo, a street sign is displayed at the New York Stock Exchange in New York. Stocks were mixed in early trading on Monday, March 15, 2021, as investors sifted a mixed bag of data from China. Wall Street continues to eye the bond market, where yields gave back some of last week’s gains.
TOKYO (AP) — Global shares rose on Tuesday, cheered by a rally to all-time highs on Wall Street despite growing concern over the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.3% in early trading to 6,051.82, while Germany’s DAX added 0.4% to 14,521.75. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6% to 6,792.22. U.S. shares were set for a slow start, with Dow futures down 0.1% at 32,810. S&P 500 futures were unchanged at 3,958.30.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.5% to finish at 29,921.09. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.7% to 3,067.17. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.8% to 6,827.10. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7% to 29,027.69, while the Shanghai Composite recouped earlier losses and rose 0.8% to 3,446.73.
The slower rollouts of the coronavirus vaccine in Asia, compared to the U.S. and Europe, continues to put investors in the region in a cautionary mode, although South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and other nations have had fewer deaths.
Weighing on sentiment is news that the vaccine from AstraZeneca had had reports “blood clots after usage, whether or not a side-effect, (that) have resulted in a ‘precautionary’ suspension” in Europe,” said Venkateswaran Lavanya of Mizuho Bank in Singapore.
“This has set back Europe’s vaccination progress even more starkly compared to the U.S.,” Lavanya said in a report.