Yesterday, all major equity indices surged on the back of positive vaccine progress. CROBEX ended the day in green (+3.09%), marking the largest daily increase since April.
The Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech SE prevented more than 90% of infections in a study of tens of thousands of volunteers, which can be considered the furthest scientific progress so far in the efforts against the spread of Covid-19.
The findings are based on an interim analysis conducted after 94 participants, split between those who got a placebo and those who were vaccinated, contracted Covid-19. The trial will continue until 164 cases have occurred. The preliminary findings surprised scientists in a positive way about the possible effectiveness of a vaccine, which in turn led to an increased market speculation among investors regarding the potential implications of the above-mentioned news on the end of the pandemic.
The markets reacted, unsurprisingly, positively to the news, as virtually all major equity indices surged. In Europe, DAX ended the day with an increase of 4.94%, CAC 40 increased as much as 7.57%, while FTSE100 went up by 4.67%. It also seems that the investors pulled out of safe havens such as the Bund and redirected the funds into riskier assets, which included equities. This could be observed as the yield on the Bund increased by 11 basis points yesterday (from -0.62% to -0.51%).
Performance of Selected Indices (9 Nov 2020) (%)
Regional markets have followed the “green” trend, as CROBEX increased by 3.09%, representing the highest daily increase since 6 April (when the index increased by 5.1%). CROBEX ended the day at 1636.38 points, at which the index was last time seen in late September.
Meanwhile, SBITOP increased by 1.99%, while BET went up by 3.65%.
On the Croatian equity market, virtually all stocks ended the trading day in green, with Valamar leading the gainers in the prime market (+8.02%). Valamar ended the trading day at HRK 25.6 per share, at which level was the share last time seen in mid-August. Next comes Arena Hospitality Group, which observed an increase of 4.51%, ending the day at HRK 278 per share. Outside of the prime market, Atlantska Plovidba noted an increase of 9.76%.
On the LJSE, NLB Group observed the highest increase of 5%, ending the day at EUR 37.8 per share. At the current share price, the company is traded at a P/B of 0.42. We note that the company will be publishing their 9M 2020 report on Thursday (12 Nov). Next comes, Triglav which observed an increase of 2.94%, followed by Krka with an increase of 2.5%.
Moving on to the Romanian market, all BET constitunets with the exception of Conpet ended the trading day in green. OMV Petrom and Sphera Franchise Group lead the gainers with an increase of 7.85% and 7.14%, respectively.
