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* AstraZeneca vaccine news drives risk-on approach
* Australia eases lockdowns, U.S. vaccines in sight
* Stocks hit record highs https://tmsnrt.rs/3nUxlfj
* EM FX no longer split by U.S. election https://tmsnrt.rs/3lVcw2w
By Lawrence White and Andrew Galbraith
LONDON/SHANGHAI, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Investors scooped up
stocks, commodities and emerging-market currencies and gave the
dollar a wide berth as AstraZeneca and Oxford University
provided markets with their now-regular Monday shot of
encouraging COVID-19 vaccine news.
The STOXX index of Europe's 600 largest firms rose
to its highest since February, Wall Street was pointing up 0.6%
and Brent futures were nearly 1.5% stronger.
AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccine, which is set to cost just a
few dollars a shot and should be easier to ramp up and store
than vaccines by Pfizer and BioNTech
and Moderna, could also be up to 90% effective.
As the dollar buckled through a range it has been in for the
past few months, the euro touched $1.19, but it was the
emerging markets that are likely to benefit from a cheaper and
easier-to-store drug that rallied the most.
South Africa's rand shrugged off a double sovereign
credit-rating downgrade over the weekend to add 0.8%. Russia's
rouble and Mexican peso both climbed half a
percent to bolster their stellar months.
"The combined vaccine news of the last few weeks... will
lead to a much faster pace of normalization to our daily lives
compared to what we would have assumed just a few weeks ago,"
analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a note to clients. "By spring,
things should be looking much closer to normal."
Markets' optimism also came after a top official of the U.S.
government's vaccine-development effort said Sunday that the
first vaccines there could be given to U.S. healthcare workers
and some others by mid-December.
U.S shares looked set to mimic gains in Europe and Asia, as
Nasdaq futures rose 0.4%, Dow futures rose 0.7%, and U.S.
e-mini futures for the S&P 500 were 0.6% higher at
3,576.
The rally also showed investors are willing to look past the
grim U.S. case numbers -- which topped 12 million over the
weekend -- and mixed European economic data released on
Monday.
IHS Markit's headline flash composite PMI, seen as a good
guide to economic health, fell to 45.1 in November from
October's 50.0 - the level separating growth from contraction. A
Reuters poll had predicted a shallower dip to 46.1.
Vaccine hopes, though, and expectations of more stimulus
from the European Central Bank next month, meant optimism
improved. The composite future output index jumped to 60.1 from
56.5, its highest since February.
"Today's vaccine news is positive, but it is only partly
responsible for the rally in stock markets," said Philip Shaw,
chief economist at Investec in London. "(It) is also being
driven by the news that the U.S. hopes to start the vaccination
program in under three weeks."
GOLD LOSING ITS SHINE
Euro zone government bonds saw some selling as investors
also focused on the fact that major economies remain under
strict lockdowns and that COVID-19 cases are not receding.
Benchmark German 10-year Bund yields were last flat at
-0.57%, off a two-week low.
The European share rally took the region's November gains to
15% and followed another record high for Asian equities even
before the announcement of latest vaccine news.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
ended the day 0.8% higher.
Analysts said the gains belied some uncertainty as monetary
and fiscal help for the U.S. economy remained elusive.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last week that
key pandemic lending programs at the Federal Reserve would
expire on Dec. 31, putting the outgoing Trump administration at
odds with the central bank and potentially adding stress to the
economy.
With the vaccine news and dollar index, which tracks
the dollar against a basket of six major rivals, down to 92.097,
commodity markets were still bullish, with traders optimistic
about a recovery in crude demand pushing oil higher.
West Texas Intermediate crude gained 71 cents, or
1.67%, to $43.13 a barrel, in line with the gains in Brent crude
futures. Both benchmarks jumped 5% last week.
Safe-haven gold, meanwhile, drifted at $1,864 per
ounce, having lost almost 10% since peaking in earlier August.
"Positive sentiment continues to be driven by the recent
good news about the efficacy of coronavirus vaccines in
development and the expectation that the OPEC+ meeting at the
end of this month could see the group extend current cuts by
three to six months," said Stephen Innes, chief global markets
Strategist at Axi, a financial services firm.
(Reporting by Lawrence White and Andrew Galbraith; editing by
Richard Pullin, Larry King)
