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To: IngotWeTrust who wrote (19952)	9/28/1998 7:40:00 AM
From: Alex	Respond to of 116762

Nikkei closes up as pension money hits market By Andrew Morse TOKYO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Tokyo stocks finished higher on Monday as public pension funds helped to boost prices ahead of half-year book closings on Wednesday. Basket buying by foreign players to cover positions in futures options also buoyed cash prices. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 185.53 points or 1.35 percent at 13,909.37. December futures were up 170 at 13,950. Analysts said public pension funds supported the market after the weekend announcement Japan Leasing Corp, an affiliate of Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan (LTCB) had failed. The company has debts of 2.18 trillion yen, making its failure the largest bankruptcy in the postwar era. ''It makes great sense for the government to order their funds in today because there could have been relatively significant shock waves going through the market because of Japan Leasing,'' said Martin Foster, senior analyst at Standard & Poor's MMS. ''However, all of the fundamentals point in the opposite direction.'' Japan's economy has contracted for three quarters. Others said the fallout would reverberate in the future as more problems at LTCB came to light. ''I don't think this is the end of the saga,'' said Michael Wilkins, a dealer at Credit Lyonnais. ''Before it's all said and done, there's going to be a huge tab to pick up.'' News the ruling and opposition parties had hammered out an agreement on key banking legislation, which included the nationalisation of LTCB, helped the mood, although few expected immediate results. Broader indexes were mixed. The TOPIX index of all first section shares was up 13.59 points or 1.29 percent at 1,063.52. The capitalisation Nikkei 300 was up 2.85 points or 1.39 percent at 208.13. However, smaller companies on the second section index were off 14.46 points or 1.25 percent at 1,138.53. Plenty of bearishness rippled under the surface, traders said. They noted a 1,000-lot purchase of puts -- options to sell at a set price -- against the December Nikkei futures contract in Singapore. Basket purchases of cash shares in Tokyo against the options play helped strengthen the market, they said. Advancing issues outpaced declining issues 59 percent to 28 percent. Only five sectors fell. Most major banks were lower despite the government bank bill agreement and the announcement of a broad alliance between Asahi Bank and Tokai Bank , amid concerns of their exposures to Japan Leasing. Sumitomo Trust & Banking , which has been in merger talks with LTCB, fell 23 to 280, a low for the year, after it said it might be unable to recover all of 135.4 billion yen in credits extended to the company. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi , Mitsubishi Trust & Banking and Toyo Trust & Banking , all of which have exposures to Japan Leasing, also fell. LTCB fell to a new low of 13 before closing down 10 at 14. Turnover was light with 377 million shares trading on the first section and 4.25 million trading on the second section. (Note: this article is ''in progress''; there will likely be an update soon.) biz.yahoo.com