The (bio)tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was back to being the star performer among US stock indices, which bodes well for Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT).
The Nasdaq Composite rose 228 points (1.6%) to close at 14,943, leaving the Dow Jones (up 0.6%) and the S&P 500 (up 0.9%) trailing in its wake.
Sentiment was lifted by the US Food and Drug Administration granting full approval for the Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
The move has thrown the focus back on biotech plays such as Moderna, which is one of the top two holdings of Scottish Mortgage, the investment trust that probably more than any other has successfully ridden the tech wave in stock markets in the 21st century.
Scottish Mortgage’s corporate strategy director, Catharine Flood, has identified healthcare, transport, space exploration and biological manufacturing as areas of high interest to the trust’s investment manager.
Shares in Scottish Mortgage (SMT) had a wobble late last month as the government in China cracked down on the country’s big tech companies; four of SMT’s top 10 largest positions are Chinese companies, and until recently Tencent Holdings was its largest holding.
The shares are up 2.4% at 1,384.5p this morning, comfortably outperforming the FTSE 100m, which is up just 0.1%.