Japanese shares lifted by insurers, blue-chips

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By Elaine Lies

TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Japanese share prices climbed more than 1 percent on Wednesday as Millea Holdings Inc (8766.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other insurers rose after an offer of help to U.S. bond insurers soothed market worries about credit problems.

Canon Inc (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other blue-chip exporters rose, boosting the overall market, but gains were limited by uncertainty ahead of key Japanese and U.S. economic indicators including Japanese GDP on Thursday.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett offered on Tuesday to reinsure $800 billion in municipal debts guaranteed by the top three U.S. bond insurers, soothing worries about fallout from the credit crisis and sending the Dow Jones industrials .DJI and S&P 500 .SPX higher [ID:nN12216014].

But CNBC reported that one of the three, Ambac Financial Group Inc (ABK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), had already rejected the offer, reinforcing wariness among already sceptical Japanese market players.

"One has rejected the offer and the other two haven't responded yet, so there's still definitely doubts about how effective a measure this really is," said Noritsugu Hirakawa of the investment strategy section at Okasan Securities.

"Still, the fact that this offer has been made is a ray of light for the market."

Others said Buffett's offer did not cover the problem debt at the heart of the credit crisis and that much more stringent measures, such as fund injections, are needed to resolve the issue.