Stocks in Asia Pacific rose during Thursday's trading session, following positive news overnight about the development of a potential coronavirus vaccine.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong led gains among the region's major markets, rising 1.48% by the afternoon as stocks in the city returned to trade following a Wednesday holiday.
Tensions will be closely watched after China's controversial national security law went into effect on Tuesday, and Hong Kong police announced their first arrests on Wednesday. Police have so far arrested at least 370 people, they said on Twitter.
Mainland Chinese stocks also saw gains, with the Shanghai composite rising 1.16% and the Shenzhen component adding 0.863%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.04% in afternoon trade while the Topix index advanced 0.17%. South Korea's Kospi gained nearly 0.9%.
Meanwhile, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.5%. Trade surplus for May came in at 8.025 billion Australian dollars ($5.55 billion), according to the country's bureau of statistics. That was below expectations of a trade surplus of 9 billion Australian dollars in a Reuters poll.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gained 1.19%.
"I think it's very interesting that even with the events of yesterday, of course, the Hang Seng market is the relative outperformer today," Ben Powell, chief investment strategist for Asia Pacific at BlackRock Investment Institute, told CNBC's "Street Signs" Thursday morning Singapore time.
Powell said the market moves were testament to the global "policy revolution," referring to drastic measures adopted by authorities around the world to keep financial markets afloat as the pandemic hits global economies.
"Even with the complexities of domestic politics, geopolitics, the virus itself which is still with us ... this policy revolution is helping financial markets to have healed ... back in March and now to continue to perform rather well," Powell said. "Having a moderately pro-risk stance, we think, continues to be right … both globally and here in the region."
Investors watched for reaction to a recent study of a coronavirus candidate being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech that showed the drug created neutralizing antibodies. The results, which were posted online, have yet to be reviewed by a medical journal.
"We are cautious," Joseph Capurso, head of international economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a note. "We have received positive news about potential vaccines in the past, but all are yet to see widespread production and distribution."
A top World Health Organization official warned Wednesday that certain countries may need to reimplement lockdowns. In the U.S., more than 12 states have paused or rolled back their reopenings following a recent spike in cases. Globally, more than 10 million people have been infected by the coronavirus and at least 511,000 lives have been taken, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Looking ahead, the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report is set to be released Thursday morning stateside.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against basket of its peers, was at 97.098 following an earlier high of 97.19.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.44 per dollar following its strengthening yesterday from around the 108 mark against the greenback. The Australian dollar was at $0.6914 after bouncing from levels below $0.69 yesterday.
Oil prices rose in the afternoon of Asian trading hours on Thursday, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.17% to $42.09 per barrel. U.S. crude futures were fractionally higher at $39.84 per barrel.
— CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
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Asia Pacific stocks rise amid coronavirus vaccine hopes; Australia trade data for May misses expectations - CNBC
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