Key Asian markets ended mostly higher today on hopes of strong economic recovery next year. South Korea's KOSPI rose for the fourth straight day to close at a record high with gains of 1.9%. China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.1%.
 
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 2.2 percent and Singapore's Straits Times index rose 0.7 percent. But, Japan's Nikkei-225 index lost 0.5% on its last trading day of 2020 after jumping to a 30-year high on Tuesday. For the year, it jumped 16%.
 
In Europe, key markets rose as Britain approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Shares of AstraZeneca were up 1.3% after jumping 3.3% earlier in anticipation of the news.  London's FTSE-100 had risen 0.3 percent; France's CAC-40 was up 0.1 percent and Germany's DAX was trading flat, in intra-day trade.