Japan shares track Wall St higher; banks gain as U.S. regulators relax rules

SYDNEY, June 26 (Reuters) - Japanese shares bounced back on
Friday, tracking overnight Wall Street gains, with banks leading
the rally in both markets, after U.S. regulators' decision to
ease some rules allayed fears over a spike in fresh COVID-19
cases.
The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 rose 1.1% to 22,512.08,
rebounding from a 1-1/2-week closing low hit in the previous
sessiom. For the week, the index eked out a marginal gain of
0.1%.
Wall Street's major indexes closed higher on Thursday, with
bank stocks soaring after U.S. banking regulators unveiled new
rules that will make life easier for large banks with complex
trading and investment portfolios. It helped to offset investor
jitters over alarming increases in new coronavirus cases. .N
Riding on the upbeat wave, shares in Tokyo-listed banks also
gained, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Inc 8306.T ,
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) Inc 8316.T and Mizuho
Financial Group Inc 8411.T rising between 1.3% and 1.7%.
The benchmark Nikkei's heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp
9984.T advanced 3% as the tech conglomerate said after the
market close on Thursday that it would buy back up to 5.75% of
own shares worth 500 billion yen ($4.7 billion) through March
31, 2021. The broader Topix .TOPX rose 1% to 1,577.37, with all but
three of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange
finishing higher.
Financial-related securities .ISECU.T , banking .IBNKS.T
and other financial .IFINS.T were among the top performing
sector subindexes on the main bourse.
Some retail investors bought the stocks of companies that
will go ex-dividend on Monday, analysts said. Kyowa Kirin Co Ltd
4151.T climbed 2.1% and Canon Inc 7751.T added 0.5%.
Bucking the overall gaining trend, the index of Mothers
startup shares .MTHR fell 0.8%, after touching its highest
level since Oct. 2, 2018 earlier in the session. ($1 = 107.1700 yen)