Japan shares climb most in nearly a month as fear of U.S.-Iran war recedes

By Stanley White
TOKYO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Japanese shares jumped the most in
nearly a month on Thursday, recovering all the losses from the
previous session, after the United States and Iran signalled
their desire to avoid further military conflict.
The benchmark Nikkei index .N225 ended up 2.31% at
23,729.87, its biggest one-day percentage increase since Dec.
13.
The Nikkei erased Wednesday's 1.57% decline, triggered by
Iranian missile attacks on facilities hosting U.S. military
forces in Iraq in retaliation to the U.S. killing of a prominent
Iranian general last week.
The attack initially roiled global financial markets as it
stoked fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
However, markets regained their composure after U.S.
President Donald Trump said there were no casualties and the
United States did not necessarily have to hit back. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said the
missile strike "concluded" Tehran's response to the U.S. killing
last week of Qassem Soleimani, who was responsible for building
Iran's network of proxy armies across the Middle East.
"For now there is a sense of relief, but there could be more
problems in the future if the Iranian public does not accept
this pause in hostilities," Yutaka Masushima, a market analyst
at Monex Securities in Tokyo.
"Excluding geopolitical risks, there is a strong case for
Japanese equities to push higher. Data from the United States
and Europe suggest that the global economy is improving, which
means Japanese corporate earnings will bottom out soon and start
rising."
The technology and consumer discretionary sectors led the
advance as shares of electric part maker Omron Corp 6645.T and
video game maker Bandai Namco Holdings Inc 7832.T rose.
There were 217 advancers on the Nikkei index against eight
decliners on Thursday.
The largest percentage gainers in the index were online
media company CyberAgent Inc 4751.T up 6.77%, followed by
semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker Screen Holdings Co
Ltd 7735.T gaining 6.1%, and photography and medical device
maker Fujifilm Holdings Corp 4901.T , up 6.04%.
The largest percentage losers in the index were oil and
natural gas developer Inpex Corp 1605.T , down 2.7%, followed
by oil refiner JXTG Holdings Inc 5020.T losing 2.68%, and
engineering company JGC Holdings Corp 1963.T ending 1.44%
lower.
The broader Topix index .TOPX rose 1.63% to 1,729.05.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 1.15 billion, compared to the average of
1.12 billion in the past 30 days.