Coronavirus update: New Zealand marks 11 new cases, China prints fifth day of zero local cases

Although figures from Australia renewed hopes that the coronavirus (COVID-19) is abating in its wave 2.0, data from Wellington and Beijing portray a mixed picture.

New Zealand’s new cases rise from 5 to 11, which in turn pushed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to postpone lockdown related announcement to Monday.

On the other hand, Reuters quotes the Chinese health commission to confirm, “China reported 22 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for Aug. 20, compared to seven a day earlier.” Even so, all 22 cases were imported, as per the National Health Commission, which in turn marks the fifth day of zero cases at home.

Furthermore, figures from Tokyo surged past-300, to 339 for the first time since Saturday.

Market implications

With not much of the challenging figures, S&P 500 Futures keep the mild gains whereas stocks in Asia-Pacific also follow the suit by the press time of the pre-European session on Friday.