Asia-Pacific Stocks Trade Higher Despite Concerns about Coronavirus Surge

By Staff, Agencies

Asia-Pacific stocks jumped in Monday morning trade, according to CNBC News.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was 1.34 percent higher, driven by Softbank Group and robot maker Fanuc shares, which gained more than 2 percent each. The Topix index traded 1.44 percent higher.

South Korea's Kospi also rose slightly, gaining 0.6 percent.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.44 percent in early trade.

Overall in the region, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was 0.24 percent higher on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, Wall Street has seen consecutive gains in July, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 climbing 1 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite saw new record gains, rising 10.7 percent in July.

The United States has registered a spike in the daily number of new coronavirus cases. On Sunday, the US state of Florida set a record for the largest daily rise in new COVID-19 cases after 15,299 positive tests for the disease were registered in a single day, the Florida Department of Health said. Assistant Secretary for Health Adm Brett Giroir said that officials are expecting to observe a surge in deaths in the US over the next two to three weeks due to the sustained rise in new cases.