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Summary
- The markets in London got a lift in the mid-morning trades after investors turned optimistic on the back of Moderna’s vaccine update
- Dow Jones Industrial Average started the day on a higher note with the index hitting a record high
- Shares of Moderna Inc gained over 15 per cent intraday on Monday
Once again, a significant advancement in the coronavirus vaccine development has steered a global stock market rally with the benchmark indices of two of the world’s top three stock exchanges -- New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE) -- gaining more than 1.5 per cent each. Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA), the Massachusetts-headquartered biotechnology firm and drugmaker, on Monday provided an update with regard to the Phase 3 trials of its coronavirus vaccine.
A marketwide gain across the major stock indices was seen on the back of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine news. Earlier last week itself, a largely similar buying was observed in the markets from New York-to-London-to-Tokyo after the pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and BioNTech issued the coronavirus vaccine update in their Phase 3 clinical trials.
FTSE 100, DJIA gain
FTSE 100 jumped as much as 104.90 points or 1.66 per cent to close at 6,421.29 after hitting an intraday high of 6,463.51 on Monday. The markets in London got a lift in the mid-morning trades after investors turned optimistic on the positive news of the coronavirus vaccine. Yesterday, FTSE 100 regained the five-month high levels.
FTSE 100 (1-week performance)
(Source: Thomson Reuters)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) of NYSE started the day on a higher note with the index hitting a record high at 29,964.29, up 1.64 per cent from the previous closing of 29,479.81. DJIA finally settled +470.63 points or 1.60 per cent higher at 29,950.44 on Monday.
DJIA (1-week performance)
(Source: Thomson Reuters)
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine update
On Monday, Moderna said that its coronavirus vaccine candidate for the Phase 3 clinical study of mRNA-1273 has shown a vaccine efficacy of 94.5 per cent. Moderna’s Phase 3 clinical trial has met the statistical criteria pre-specified in the study protocol for efficacy for Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, the biotechnology firm said. The preliminary analysis of the Phase 3 clinical study of the coronavirus vaccine suggests a “broadly consistent safety and efficacy profile” across all the subgroups that have been under evaluation.
Moderna has enrolled over 30,000 volunteers for the Phase 3 clinical trials of Coronavirus vaccine, COVE study in the US. The drug developer deduced the first interim analysis on the basis of 95 coronavirus cases including 15 older adults of over 65 years of age and 20 volunteers from diverse communities. It has been found that the coronavirus vaccine was “well tolerated” by the participants after a review of solicited adverse symptoms.
The main symptom observed with greater than or equal to 2 per cent frequency after the first dose was given was the injection site pain. After the injection of the second dose, fatigue, arthralgia, headache, pain, and redness at the injection site were reported as severe symptoms. However, Moderna informed that the aforementioned solicited adverse symptoms were short lived.
Moderna shares spurt
Following the major breakthrough in the coronavirus vaccine development, the shares of Nasdaq-listed Moderna gained over 15 per cent during the day before closing 9 per cent higher on Monday. The stock of Moderna Inc jumped as much as 15.45 per cent to a multi-month high of $103.20 from the previous closing price of $89.39. Moderna share price ended the day at $97.95, up 9.5 per cent. Shares of Moderna have been on a rising spree since the beginning of this month. The stock of Moderna has advanced more than 45 per cent in just 11 trading sessions to $97.95 (16 November) from a share price level of $67.47 a piece as on 30 October.
Moderna Inc shares (1-month performance)
(Source: Thomson Reuters)
