* Nikkei up 1.2 pct after sell-off as defensive stocks gain
* Market starts lower as Japan slips into recession
* Property firms plunge on weak Tokyo office rent survey
(Adds stocks, detail)
By Aiko Hayashi
TOKYO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average rose 1.2 percent
in thin trade on Monday as some investors rushed in to buy
following an initial sell-off after data showed Japan's economy
was in recession.
Amid the global economic turmoil, so-called defensive stocks
such as drugmakers including Takeda Pharmaceutical Co <4502.T>
gained to help buoy the market.
But major real estate firms plunged, with Japan's top
property company Mitsui Fudosan Co <8801.T> down nearly 5
percent, after the Nikkei business daily said its survey found
rent charges for new office buildings in Tokyo had declined for
the first time in six years.
Market participants said entities such as public pension
funds appeared to have bought shares after the initial sell-off
ran its course.
"A slightly softer yen and the notion that stocks are
undervalued might have contributed to the gains. Technicals also
show the market is in a place where it could move either way,"
said Yoshinori Nagano, a chief strategist at Daiwa Asset
Management.
"But investors are watching the performance of the rest of
the Asian markets in the afternoon, and I still can't say we will
end today's trade higher."
The benchmark Nikkei slid nearly 3 percent earlier as
investors came back to trade to find Japan's economy shrank 0.1
percent in the third quarter, lagging market expectations for
anaemic growth of 0.1 percent. []
The contraction confirmed that the global financial crisis
has sabotaged growth in yet another major economy, with the euro
zone already in recession, using the most common definition of
two consecutive quarters of contraction. []
Takahiko Murai, general manager of equities at Nozomi
Securities, said he worried more about the outlook going forward
as Japan depended heavily on overseas demand for its exports.
"We have no factors to expect the GDP figures will be revised
up later as a deterioration in U.S. consumer spending is
happening really fast, and a resulting firmer yen could further
damage Japan's economic outlook," he said.
The benchmark Nikkei <> added 98.80 points to 8,561.19,
while the broader Topix <> climbed 0.8 percent to 853.22.
Governments from Washington to Beijing agreed Saturday to a
host of fiscal and monetary steps to rescue the global economy
but it was left to individual governments to tailor their
response to their particular circumstances and troubled
industries, underwhelming markets. []
The yen and U.S. dollar rose on Monday in a flight to safety
on assessments that the meeting yielded no concrete moves to
avert a looming global recession. The U.S. dollar dropped 0.8
percent to 96.20 yen <JPY=> after sliding as low as 95.87 yen.
[] <FXNEWS>
DRUGMAKERS GAIN, PROPERTY FIRMS HIT
Drugmakers gained, with Takeda rising 3 percent to 4,830 yen,
while Eisai Co <4523.T> added 3.3 percent to 3,400 yen and
Daiichi Sankyo Co <4568.T> jumped 5.5 percent to 1,965 yen.
But shares of Mitsui Fudosan sank 4.8 percent to 1,389 yen,
while Mitsubishi Estate Co <8802.T> shed 5.4 percent at 1,396 yen
and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co Ltd <8830.T> declined 5.5
percent to 1,240 yen.
Shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group <8316.T>, Japan's
No. 3 bank, slipped 1.9 percent to 355,000 yen after posting on
Friday a 51 percent fall in quarterly profit on a jump in bad
loans, but said it had no plans to follow its rivals in raising
capital. []
Trade was thin on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with
894 million shares changing hands, compared with last week's
morning average of 945 million shares.
Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones, 935 to 630.
(Editing by Sophie Hardach)
