Tokyo stocks gain as virus cases slow in Japan, but U.S.-China tensions weigh

SYDNEY, May 18 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose on Monday as
signs of a slowdown in coronavirus infections raised optimism
that the government would soon ease restrictions in additional
prefectures, although escalating U.S.-China trade tensions kept
investors wary.
The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 gained 0.5% to
20,133.73, erasing early losses.
The daily number of new coronavirus cases reported in Tokyo
dropped to five on Sunday, the lowest since the capital was
placed under a state of emergency on April 7. Japan lifted a state of emergency in large parts of the
country on Thursday but said it would remain in place in Tokyo
until the novel coronavirus was contained. Increasing tensions between the United States and China, the
world's two largest economies, sent shares of chipmaking-related
companies and electric component makers reeling.
The Trump administration on Friday moved to block global
chip supplies to blacklisted telecoms equipment giant Huawei
Technologies, fuelling fears of Chinese retaliation and
hammering makers of chipmaking equipment on Wall
Street. .N
Tokyo-listed chipmaking-related stocks also took hit after
the Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX lost 2.2% on Friday.
Screen Holdings Co Ltd 7735.T tumbled 13.7%, while Tokyo
Electron Ltd 8035.T and Advantest Corp 6857.T slid 3.7% and
4.3%, respectively.
Nikkei heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T rose 1%
after the tech conglomerate's board approved a second 500
billion yen tranche of share purchases, part of a 2.5 trillion
yen ($23.3 billion) buyback programme announced in March.
The broader Topix .TOPX added 0.4% to end at 1,459.29,
with two-thirds of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo
exchange finishing higher.
Mining .IMING.T , fish and forest .IFISH.T and
information and communication .ICOMS.T were the three
top-performing sub-indexes on the main bourse.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC) 8316.T advanced
3.5% as the megabank's annual net profit overtook that of rivals
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) 8306.T and Mizuho
Financial Group 8411.T for the first time.
Oil and gas companies Inpex Corp 1605.T and Japan
Petroleum Exploration Co Ltd 1662.T jumped 4.0% and 8.2%
respectively, as U.S. crude prices climbed 7% on Friday to their
highest since March on strengthening fuel demand. O/R
Japan Post Bank 7182.T plummeted 14.3% as the company
forecast a 26.8% fall in net profit for the business year ending
March 2021 and pulled its annual dividend forecast, which came
as a negative surprise, according to analysts.
Elsewhere, Renown Inc 3606.T nosedived 38.5%, its daily
limit, after the century-old textile company filed for
bankruptcy on Friday with 13.9 billion yen in debt, partly due
to the coronavirus outbreak. Data showed Japan's economy slipped into recession for the
first time in 4-1/2 years, putting the nation on course for its
deepest postwar slump, but had limited impact on the market.


($1 = 107.1600 yen)