By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 lifted 26 points or 0.35% to 7529 on Wednesday, extending gains for the third consecutive session and tracking U.S. indices higher after Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine became the first to be granted full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In local coronavirus news, New South Wales tallied a record 919 fresh cases today as Premier Gladys Berejiklian noted that the state was approaching one-third of its population fully vaccinated. Victoria added 45 new cases with 17 in quarantine throughout their infectious period and Queensland reported zero fresh cases as health authorities paused hotel quarantine arrivals from New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT for two weeks amid capacity and staff concerns. The ACT reported a record 30 cases yesterday with infections tipped to rise further amid accelerating household transmissions.
Among stocks, National Storage REIT (ASX:NSR) lifted 1.31%, trading at 18-month highs after delivering National Storage REIT (ASX:NSR), while Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) surged 27.18% after reporting earnings results. Airline stocks also extended yesterday’s gains on vaccine optimism, with Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) lifting 4.33% and Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) adding 4.66%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 76.78 points or 0.59% to fresh 2-month highs of 13148.64.