Nikkei rises to 2-week high after Wall St's historic surge

SYDNEY, March 25 (Reuters) - Japan's benchmark Nikkei jumped
more than 5% on Wednesday to a two-week high, tracking Wall
Street's big rebound on hopes U.S. lawmakers will soon approve a
massive stimulus package to fight the economic fallout from the
coronavirus pandemic.
The Nikkei average .N225 climbed 5.7% to 19,129.21 by the
midday break, its highest level since March 12.
The benchmark is still down about 20% 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 5.3% to 47.92, but 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, after U.S. lawmakers said they were close to a deal
for an economic rescue package, injecting optimism into the
market. .N
The Tokyo market also cheered Tuesday's official decision
and announcement on the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
from the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese
government, analysts said.
"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 12.4% and sportswear maker Asics Corp
7936.T jumped 17.5%.
After a call between the IOC President Thomas Bach and
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, both said the July 24-Aug. 9
Games would move to the summer of 2021 at the latest.
The broader Topix .TOPX gained 5.2% to 1,402.78, 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
9.3%, and the TSE REIT index .TREIT climbed 10.7%, pulling
away from a seven-year trough hit last Thursday.