SYDNEY, April 14 (Reuters) - Japan's stock benchmark Nikkei
jumped 3% to its highest closing level in more than a month on
Tuesday, driven by a gigantic short squeeze, with
semiconductor-related companies and retailers leading gains.
The Nikkei average .N225 rose 3.1% to close at 19,638.81,
a peak unseen since March 10.
The Nikkei's volatility index .JNIV , a measure of
investors' volatility expectations based on option pricing and
considered to be a fear gauge, slid 11.9% to a three-week low of
37.48.
"A massive short squeeze appears to have powered the rally
especially in the afternoon," said Yasuo Sakuma, chief
investment officer at Libra Investments.
"At least some investors are seeing early signs of bottoming
out and betting a recovery will happen six months ahead."
In the United States, President Donald Trump said on Monday
that his administration was close to completing a plan to
re-open the economy, which has been largely shut down to slow
the spread of the novel coronavirus. Shares of semiconductor-making equipment producers were in
demand following a 1.4% gain overnight in the U.S. Philadelphia
semiconductor index .SOX .
Silicon wafer producer Sumco Corp 3436.T gained 5.5%, test
device maker Advantest Corp 6857.T soared 6.4% and chip-making
gear manufacturer Tokyo Electron Ltd 8035.T rose 4.0%.
The Nikkei's heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T
climbed 5.2%, shrugging off an earlier announcement that its
Vision Fund will post a 1.8 trillion yen ($16.7 billion) loss in
the year ended March. While that is going to result in the entire group's first
annual loss in 15 years, some kind of disastrous performance had
already been priced in, analysts said.
The broader Topix .TOPX gained 2.0% to 1,433.51, with all
but two of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange
finishing in positive territory.
Retail .IRETL.T , sea transport .ISHIP.T and services
.ISVCS.T were the top three performing sectors on the main
bourse.
FamilyMart Co Ltd 8028.T surged 9.3% after the convenience
store operator forecast a 37.8% increase in net profit for the
current business year ending in February. Bucking the trend were major construction firms, with
builder Shimizu Corp 1803.T dropping 2.8% after it moved
towards suspending activity in all seven prefectures that have
been put under an emergency decree.
The rest of Japan's top four construction companies,
Obayashi Corp 1802.T , Taisei Corp 1801.T and Kajima Corp
1812.T were down between 1.5% and 2.6%.
Elsewhere, the index of Mothers start-up shares .MTHR
advanced 4.8% to 709.03, its highest closing level since March
6.
($1 = 107.6800 yen)