A staff member displays a sample of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine at a vaccine production plant of China National Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (Sinopharm) in Beijing, capital of China, April 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

With China at the forefront of global efforts to roll out COVID-19 vaccines, major Chinese vac-cine producers have lately turned in stellar performances in the stock market, with shares of lead-ing vaccine maker Sinopharm defying an overall decline to rise by the 10-percent daily limit on Wednesday.

An experimental vaccine developed by Sinopharm was 86 percent effective against the corona-virus, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) health ministry said on Wednesday, citing an interim analysis of in-country late-stage clinical trials. The UAE has officially approved and registered the vaccine, the country's state news agency reported. 

Buoyed by the announcement, Shanghai-listed Sinopharm rallied near the end of the afternoon session, bucking losses across the board. As of Wednesday's market close, Sinopharm's stock had been up 22.37 percent for this month.

The flagship Shanghai Composite Index shed 1.12 percent to close below 3,400 points on Wednesday, while the Shenzhen Component Index lost 1.84 percent.

The approval of the Chinese-made vaccine for general use was also a shot in the arm for other vaccine producers. For instance, Fosun Pharma finished up 2.88 percent in Shanghai on Wednes-day. 

In a sign that China is firmly in a leading position to deliver vaccines for general use, Wang Junzhi, an academician and a member of the national vaccine R&D specialist group, revealed earlier in December that the nation plans to approve 600 million doses of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2020. 

In comparison, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer was reported to cut in half its original doses owing to supply-chain obstacles. 

China's inactivated vaccines are relatively mature and technologically advanced, according to Wang. 

As of December 2, 214 vaccines were in development across the globe and 51 had entered clinical trials, according to media reports, with 14 in late-stage trials. 

Six Chinese-developed vaccines were in late-stage clinical trials, among which four were inacti-vated vaccines.

The successful development of coronavirus vaccines paves the way for the vaccines to be gradual-ly delivered to the general public, raising hopes of effectively containing the epidemic in Europe and the US in 2021. This, adding to progress in fiscal stimulus negotiations, is beefing up investor confidence, Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund Management Co, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The A-share market is expected to continue a slow bull run in 2021, according to Yang, who said the key Shanghai index will gain about 10-20 percent annually in the years to come. 

Global Times