Total 29 issues out of 33 industry category of Topix index surged, with Air Transportation, Land Transportation, Securities & Commodities Futures, Pharmaceutical, Precision Instruments, and Retail Trade issues being notable gainers, while Mining, Oil & Coal Products, and Iron & Steel issues were notable losers.
The market continued to react to positive Coronavirus-related news from Asia. While the disease continues being a concern, it seems that the curve is flattening. In fact, China has already removed the previous lockdown measures it had put in Wuhan. Globally, more than 1.4 million have been infected by the coronavirus so far while at least 81,000 lives have been taken, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University.
Investors are happy that Shinzo Abe did not impose a national lockdown as was widely expected. Instead, the prime minister declared a state of emergency, which is seen as being less restrictive.Market players expect no major negative news in the near term after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared on Tuesday a state of emergency to curb the virus outbreak, though concerns remain that the declaration could further restrict business activities. Post declaration, short-term players swiftly bought back the shares of companies they had sold heavily on expectations of huge damages from the emergency.
In addition to declaring a lockdown, Shinzo Abe announced a $1 trillion stimulus package that will see the government send checks to households and companies. This was a big leap of faith for Japan, which has a combined GDP of more than $4.8 trillion.
Retail issues were mostly higher even though they announced temporary shop closures. Isetan Mitsukoshi gained 2.1%, J. Front Retailing climbed 6.6%, and Takashimaya jumped 6.1%.
Shares of railway operators soared. Tobu Railway rose 5.2%, Odakyu Electric Railway gained 7%, while Keio Corp climbed 5.4% and East Japan Railway Co added 5.4%.
Airline shares also bounced back, with ANA Holdings rising 7.8% and Japan Airlines up 8.8%.
Automakers were helped by the dollar's strength against the yen, with Toyota rising 2% and Mazda Motor advancing 2.7%.
SoftBank Group ended up 0.2%, after dropping 3.4% during trading on the news that two directors of the operator of WeWork filed a lawsuit against the company's withdrawal of a $3 billion tender offer.
CURRENCY: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 100.264 after touching an earlier low of 99.902. The Japanese yen traded at 108.76 per dollar after staying above 108.8 for much of the trading week so far.
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