Japan stocks flat in tug of war between rising virus cases, stimulus

By Stanley White
TOKYO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Japanese shares were little
changed in choppy trade on Thursday as concerns about rising
domestic coronavirus cases offset optimism over further U.S.
economic stimulus and a pledge of support from the Federal
Reserve.
The Nikkei 225 Index .N225 was down 0.04% at 26,746.02 by
0214 GMT. The broader Topix .TOPX rose 0.08% to 1,788.37.
Some traders were slightly cautious because Japan is
grappling with a third wave of virus infections, but positive
developments in the United States supported
sentiment. Top Democrats and Republicans both sounded hopeful about
agreeing on a $900 billion COVID-19 aid bill, and the Fed vowed
to keep pouring cash into financial markets until the world's
largest economy was on a sound footing. Stocks could easily fall on profit-taking after a stellar
rally that pushed the Nikkei to a 29-1/2-year high last week,
but analysts remain positive about the mid-term outlook.
"Excessive amounts of liquidity provided by central banks
have been the backbone of stock markets this year, and this will
continue into next year," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment
strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix
names were Nintendo Co Ltd 7974.T up 4.95%, followed by
SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T up 3.39%.
The underperformers among the Topix 30 were Daiichi Sankyo
Co Ltd 4568.T down 3.80%, followed by Fanuc Corp 6954.T
losing 1.83%.
Japan Post Insurance 7181.T rose 11.79% after media
reports that it would buy back $2.9 billion of its own shares
from its parent Japan Post Holdings 6178.T , whose shares rose
4.12%. Fujifilm Holdings 4901.T fell 3.77% after a media report
that Japan's government concluded it could not measure the
effectiveness of the company's Avigan drug as a treatment for
COVID-19. There were 52 advancers on the Nikkei index against 172
decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.5 billion, compared with the average of
1.35 billion in the past 30 days.