Japanese shares almost flat, Biden results lend some support

* Rise in U.S. stock futures on Biden resurgence supports
* Investors cautious after Fed's big rate cut fail to lift
mood
* Banks, insurers hit the most; carmakers hurt by yen's
gains

By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, March 4 (Reuters) - Japanese shares ended almost flat
on Wednesday as a pickup in Wall Street futures following early
results of U.S. Democratic primaries helped stocks claw back
earlier losses after the Federal Reserve's emergency rate cut
failed to lift confidence.
After a volatile session, the Nikkei share average .N225
ended 0.08% at 21,100.06 while the broader Topix .TOPX dipped
0.17% to 1,502.50, briefly touching a six-month low. Both
indexes stood not far from six-month lows.
The market got a mild boost from 1%-plus gains in S&P500
futures ESc1 as a resurgent former U.S. Vice President Joe
Biden in the Democrats' "Super Tuesday" primaries over chief
rival Senator Bernie Sanders, who is seen as being tougher on
big business.
More than one-third of the delegates who pick the eventual
nominee at a July convention are up for grabs in primary
elections in 14 states on Tuesday, which could provide some
clarity in a muddled race for the White House. Still, the market mood was grim as the spread of coronavirus
both in Japan and globally looks set to hit companies' bottom
lines well beyond the current quarter.
The Fed slashed rates by a half percentage point in its
first rate cut outside of a regularly scheduled policymaker
meeting since 2008 financial crisis but the moved failed to
boost Wall Street shares. "A Fed rate cut had been already priced in. And in a sense
the hasty move gave you the impression that the Fed's ammunition
is quickly dwindling," said Hiroyuki Ueno, senior strategist at
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management.
"And the fundamental problem is we are dealing with a virus,
which does not care about interest rates," he said.
Banks were the biggest losers as falls in U.S. bond yields
to record low look set to shrink their income further at a time
negative domestic interest rates are hurting their profits.
Bank index .IBNKS.T fell 2.2%, with MUFG 8306.T falling
2.3%, SMFG 8316.T losing 2.1% and Mizuho 8411.T shedding
1.9%.
Insurers, who also increasingly rely on foreign bonds for
income, also suffered. The insurer index .IINSU.T fell 1.2%.
Meanwhile, many exporters were bruised by a rise in the yen,
which hit a five month high of 106.85 per dollar JPY= on
Wednesday following the Fed's rate cut. FRX/
Shin-Etsu Chemical 4063.T fell 2.2% while Toyota Motor
7203.T dropped 1.0%. Subaru 7270.T and Suzuki Motor 7269.T
both lost 2.4%.
Telecom companies did better as the coronavirus shifted many
businesses to remote work situations, boosting demand for
communications systems. KDDI 9433.T rose 5.6% while NTT Docomo
9437.T gained 2.8%.

(Editing by Sam Holmes)