Japanese shares extend sharp fall on COVID-19 lockdown worries

TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - Japanese shares extended a steep
fall on Wednesday as fears of possible coronavirus-related
lockdowns in Japan's biggest cities cast doubts over the
prospects of an economic reopening.
Nikkei share average .N225 tumbled 2.23% to 28,451.64,
while the broader Topix .TOPX fell 2.24% to 1,881.11, after
losing the most in about a month in the previous session.
"Global investors find little reason to buy Japanese stocks
because Japan is lagging behind other countries in terms of
containing the virus," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior
strategist, Daiwa Securities.
"Worsening the sentiment is that Japan is now planning to
declare a state of emergency again."
Quasi-emergency measures to curb the spread of the virus
have been imposed in some parts of Japan and Osaka requested a
full emergency declaration on Tuesday amid a rebound in cases.
Tokyo may follow later in the week with a similar request, local
media said. Japan has vaccinated about 1% of its population, compared
with 2.9% in South Korea, and at least 40% in both the United
States and Britain, according to a Reuters tracker.
Steel makers ISTEL.T and other material sectors .INFRO.T
ITXTL.T lost the most on the Nikkei index.
Nippon Steel 5401.T tumbled 5.92%, becoming the biggest
loser on the Nikkei, while JFE Holdings 5411.T and Kobe Steel
5406.T lost 5.74% and 5.39%, respectively.
Toshiba 6502.T fell 4.37% after it dismissed a $20 billion
buyout offer from CVC Capital Partners. Rakuten Group 4755.T was down 5.4% following a report that
the United States and Japan will jointly monitor the e-commerce
firm after a unit of Tencent (HK:0700) became a major shareholder.
SoftBank Group 9984.T edged up 0.79% following a local
media report the tech start-up investor would post a net profit
of more than 4 trillion yen ($37.05 billion) for the year ended
March. ($1 = 107.9700 yen)