A share Photo: GT

Shares in vaccines picked up in afternoon trading on Friday after recent drops, with COVID-19 vaccine stocks leading the drop. Analysts said the turbulence came after the adjustment of the market following the recent gains for vaccine stocks.

Shares in Sinopharm, China National Accord Medicine and Junzheng Group rose by the 10 percent daily limit during the Friday afternoon session. Shares in Beijing Bohui Innovation Biotechnology Co and Shandong Sinobioway Biomedical Co gained more than 5 percent. Shares in Chongqing Zhengchuan Pharmaceutical Packaging Co and Tibet Rhodiola Pharm also pushed higher.

"The growth was so high that the market now faces the pressure of profit-taking," Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund Management Co, told the Global Times on Friday.

"As the coronavirus has been brought under control in China, the amount of bullish and bearish sentiment toward domestic vaccine stocks has increased," Yang added.

vaccine Photo:VCG

As one of the examples that saw a big surge in its stock price, Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co hit the daily trading limit at 235.91 yuan ($33.9) per share at Friday opening, with a market value of 158.65 billion yuan.

Kangtai Biological and AstraZeneca released statements on Thursday night saying that they have signed an exclusive licensing cooperation framework agreement on the research and development, production, supply and commercialization of COVID-19 vaccines in the Chinese mainland.

Under the agreement, Kangtai Biological should ensure annual production capacity of at least 100 million doses by the end of this year and promises to have an annual capacity of 200 million doses by 2021.

As of closing on Thursday, 45 bio-vaccine stocks are listed on the A-share market with a total value of 2.29 trillion yuan, up 121.09 percent from the beginning of the year, according to media reports.

Global Times