Nikkei posts biggest gain since 2008 on Wall St surge, U.S. stimulus

SYDNEY, March 25 (Reuters) - Japan's benchmark Nikkei jumped
8% on Wednesday, its biggest daily gain since 2008, after Wall
Street made an outsized rebound and U.S. senators and Trump
administration officials reached an agreement on a massive
stimulus bill.
The Nikkei average .N225 closed at 19,546.63 points after
its sharpest one-day advance since the peak of the global
financial crisis in October 2008.
It has gained 18% in the last three sessions, driven by a
confluence of positive factors.
On top of big U.S stimulus, buying by the Bank of Japan and
likely also by the country's pension fund, triggered a wave of
short-covering.
The news that the Tokyo Olympics will be postponed to next
year rather than cancelled provided relief while SoftBank Group
9984.T , heavyweight in the Nikkei, soared 55% in the last
three sessions, on record share buy-back and asset sales plan.
Still, the benchmark is down about 19% from its January 17
peak, underscoring the unprecedented health crisis that has
severely disrupted the world economy and the daily life of
millions with many nations forced into lockdowns. The Nikkei's volatility index .JNIV , a measure of
investors' volatility expectations based on option pricing and
considered to be a fear gauge, rose to 48.28 from 45.49,
although it was some way away from a nine-year peak of 60.86 hit
last week.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
soared 11.37% on Tuesday, its biggest one-day percentage gain
since 1933. .N
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese
government agreed to put back the Games until 2021, a decision
many investors have been looking for. "Now that investors have one less uncertainty or risk factor
to deal with, I would say the announcement has had a moderately
positive impact on the stock market," said Masahiro Fukuda, an
investment director at Fidelity International (FIL) Japan.
Dentsu Group Inc 4324.T , Japan's main marketing agency for
the Tokyo Games, surged 11.7% and sportswear maker Asics Corp
7936.T jumped 17.5%.
The broader Topix .TOPX gained 6.9%, the biggest gain in
four years, to 1,424.62, with all of the 33 sector sub-indexes
on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in positive territory.
Real estate .IRLTY.T was the top performing sector, up
11.3%, and the TSE REIT index .TREIT climbed 11.6%, pulling
away from a seven-year trough hit last Thursday.