Japan shares rebound from 6-mth lows as stimulus hopes buoy markets

TOKYO, March 2 (Reuters) - Japanese shares staged a mild
rebound in choppy trading on Monday as investors pinned their
hopes on a coordinated monetary policy response from major
central banks to offset the hit to the global economy from a
fast-spreading coronavirus.
The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 slid as much as 1.5% to
20,834.29, its lowest since Sept. 5, but reversed course to gain
1.1% by the midday break after the Bank of Japan Governor
Haruhiko Kuroda pledged to take steps to stabilise markets.
The central bank will monitor the developments carefully and
offer sufficient liquidity via market operations and asset
purchases, Kuroda said in an emergency statement. On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell issued a
statement and said that the U.S. central bank was ready to
support the economy. The Nikkei's volatility index .JNIV , a measure of
investors' volatility expectations based on option pricing, rose
to a four-year high of 47.96, before dropping sharply to 36.
The broader Topix .TOPX also ended the morning session
1.1% higher at 1,527.61, showing a solid rebound following
Kuroda's statement.
All but three of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo
Stock Exchange were trading higher, with fish and forestry
.IFISH.T , services .ISVCS.T and real estate .IRLTY.T the
top three performers.
The index of Mothers startup shares .MTHR rebounded 6.1%,
after plunging 6.3% to hit a fresh 4-year trough on Friday.
Cyclical stocks that suffered sharp falls on Friday
outperformed the overall markets, with semiconductor-related
Tokyo Electron Ltd 8035.T and Advantest Corp 6857.T climbing
4.4% and 5.2%, respectively, while Sony Corp 6758.T gained
3.8%.
Bucking the trend, Yaskawa Electric Corp 6506.T slipped
0.6% after surprisingly weak Chinese data pointed to slower
growth in the world's second-largest economy, a big market for
the Japanese company.
The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index
(PMI) tumbled to 40.3 in February, the lowest level since the
survey began in 2004, while China's official Purchasing
Managers' Index (PMI) fell to a record low of 35.7 last month.