Tokyo shares hit 2-1/2 month high on hopes for swift reopening of economy

SYDNEY, May 19 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks advanced in line
with their Wall Street and Asian peers and hit a
two-and-a-half-month high on Tuesday, as encouraging early-stage
data for a potential coronavirus vaccine boosted hopes for a
swift reopening of the global economy.
The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 gained 1.5% to
20,433.45, its highest closing since March 6.
Data from Moderna Inc's MRNA.O COVID-19 vaccine, the first
to be tested in the United States, showed it produced protective
antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers, the company
said on Monday. In a positive response to this, U.S. stocks jumped on
Monday, with the S&P 500 .SPX ending at a 10-week high, while
the Dow .DJI and the Nasdaq .IXIC rose 3.9% and 2.4%,
respectively. .N
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS last traded up 1.6% in late Asian trade.
Traders said the news of Moderna's success with a potential
coronavirus vaccine trial lifted investors' risk appetite
globally.
Japan's broader Topix .TOPX climbed 1.8% to 1,486.05, also
its highest finish since March 6, with all but one of the 33
sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange trading higher.
Highly cyclical iron and steel .ISTEL.T , sea transport
.ISHIP.T and insurance .IINSU.T were the top three
performing sectors on the main bourse.
Panasonic Corp 6752.T soared 7.0% after the company said
on Monday it was seeing strong demand for battery cells from
U.S. partner Tesla Inc TSLA.O and they were in talks to expand
their joint plant in Nevada, which is now profitable.
Financials were also in demand. Both Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial Group (MUFG) 8306.T and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial
Group (SMBC) 8316.T climbed 4.1% each, while Dai-ichi Life
Holdings 8750.T and Tokio Marine Holdings 8766.T added 2.8%
and 4.5%, respectively.
Japan's top oil and gas exploration company Inpex Corp
1605.T rose 3.3% as oil prices climbed to a two month-high on
Monday following signs that producers were following through on
planned output reductions. O/R
Reflecting investor optimism for Japan's economic reopening,
the country's top theme park operator Oriental Land Co Ltd
4661.T gained 5.5%, which has temporarily closed Tokyo
Disneyland and DisneySea because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Bucking the overall market, the Nikkei's heavyweight
SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T shed 2.8% after it reported a
stunning $18 billion loss at its Vision Fund, pushing the tech
conglomerate to a record loss and highlighting the deepening
crisis at its portfolio companies. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday the
conglomerate was in talks to sell "a significant portion" of its
T-Mobile US TMUS.O stake to controlling shareholder Deutsche
Telekom AG DTEGn.DE . Elsewhere, Sony Corp 6758.T and its financial arm Sony
Financial Holdings 8729.T surged 3.3% and 16.9%, respectively,
after the Nikkei newspaper reported Sony will turn Sony
Financial into a wholly-owned unit through a tender offer worth
about 400 billion yen ($3.7 billion). = 107.4100 yen)