Nikkei rises 2% on hopes Olympics will be held later

SYDNEY, March 23 (Reuters) - Japan's share benchmark Nikkei
rebounded strongly on Monday, on optimism the Tokyo Olympics
will not be cancelled after the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) flagged the possibility of a postponement of the Games for
the first time.
The prospect of a postponement rather than cancellation of
the Toyko Games due to start in July helped Japanese shares buck
the global trend. Markets in the region plummeted on Monday on
recession fears as more countries around the world adopted
draconian measures to contain the spreading coronavirus.
Hopes of the Bank of Japan buying Exchanged Traded Funds
(ETFs) more aggressively and public pension funds rebalancing
their stock portfolio following recent sell-offs also lent
support to the market.
The Nikkei average .N225 gained 2.0% to 16,887.78, off a
3-1/2-year low of 16,378.94 touched last Tuesday.
But overall sentiment remained fragile as U.S. stock futures
and Asian shares sank as a rising tide of national lockdowns
threatened to overwhelm policymakers' frantic efforts to cushion
what is likely to be a deep global recession. MKTS/GLOB
The Nikkei's volatility index .JNIV , a measure of
investors' volatility expectations based on option pricing and
considered to be a fear gauge, dropped 6.0% to 54.97, but was
not too far from a nine-year peak of 60.86 hit last week.
The IOC said on Sunday that it would hold discussions,
including an option of putting back the July 24 start date or
even moving the Tokyo Games by a year or more, but said
cancelling the event would not solve problems or help anybody.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said for the first time
on Monday that the Games may need to be postponed if the event
cannot be held in its "complete form" due to the pandemic.
Ad firm Dentsu Group Inc 4324.T jumped 8.6% on relief
after the IOC suggested it was looking to delay but not cancel
the Games. Shares of Dentsu, which is Japan's main marketing
agency for the event, had lost almost half of their value
year-to-date on worries that the event could be cancelled.
Index-heavy SoftBank Group 9984.T soared 18.6% to hit its
daily limit and became the most-traded stock on the bourse as
the tech conglomerate said it would sell up to 4.5 trillion yen
($41 billion) in assets to fund a share buyback of up to 2
trillion yen and reduce debt. The broader Topix .TOPX advanced 0.7% to 1,292.01, with
four-fifths of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange ending in positive territory.
In contrast to the market's firm tone, air transport
.IAIRL.T lost 5.6% to become the worst performing sector, with
ANA Holdings Inc 9202.T diving 8.6%, on the back of
evaporating demand amid the global coronavirus outbreak.
Another notable mover was the TSE REIT index .TREIT , which
slumped 16.8% in the previous session to hit a seven-year
trough, bounced back by a remarkable 13.8%.
($1 = 109.9100 yen)