The race to deliver the jab to the world’s populations has so far been led by a handful of smaller nations, and now they’re outpacing some of the wealthiest countries in the eyes of traders too.
Traders are rushing to price the global vaccine rollout & betting that nations at the forefront will be the fastest to recover from the crisis, lifting their stocks, currencies and bond yields.
Vaccine Rollout Lifts Dubai Shares to Top of the Equity Pile
Bloomberg 1/21/2021 Farah Elbahrawy and Srinivasan Sivabalan
(Bloomberg) One of the world’s fastest vaccine rollouts is fueling one of its best stock rallies.
As the United Arab Emirates pushes its inoculation program, the Dubai Financial Market General Index has climbed 12% this year, reversing its 10% slump in 2020. Only two major markets are performing better. MSCI Inc.’s gauge of developing-nation stocks has advanced 8.6%.
“Vaccines are a prime reason for this,” said Divye Arora, a money manager at Daman Investments Psc in Dubai. “We have seen a move globally away from growth and defensive toward value and cyclical. Dubai offers both value and cyclical exposure.”
The United Arab Emirates has swung open its doors to visitors betting that the blistering pace of its coronavirus vaccine rollout means it can keep infections in check while giving its economy a shot in the arm. The UAE case rate is still well below Britain with 574 per million, one of Europe's worst hit countries and now in lockdown, but far higher than its neighbours Saudi Arabia with 7 per million or Oman with 33 per million, even as the UAE boasts the second highest level of vaccinations to population on the planet. The UAE has avoided imposing a new lockdown, while some countries in Europe and elsewhere are on a second or third wave of tough restrictions.
ANALYSIS-Surging cases strain UAE s open for business COVID strategy Reuters 1/21/2021 Daily infections tripled in the past month Dubai s open economy hurt by global virus restrictions
By Lisa Barrington
DUBAI, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has swung open its doors to visitors betting that the blistering pace of its coronavirus vaccine rollout means it can keep infections in check while giving its economy a shot in the arm.
But strains on the strategy have started to show.
New daily cases in the Gulf state of about 9 million people tripled in the past month to about 354 per million this week, according to Oxford University s Our World in Data research programme.