Asian stocks today remained range bound on uncertainty over whether the U.S. lawmakers would agree on an additional round of big fiscal stimulus to support an economy still struggling with the novel coronavirus.

Hopes of vaccine development, however, prompted some investors to reduce safe-haven assets such as gold and government bonds, and to buy back battered stocks of companies hit hardest by the virus.

South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.6 percent, Singapore’s Straits times gained 0.8 percent and Japan’s NIKKEI-225 jumped 0.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.4 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite index fell 0.8 percent.

European shares were up in intra day trade. London’s FTSC-100 added 1.4 percent, France’s CAC gained 0.6 percent and Germany’s DAX gained marginally by 0.1 percent.