By Mari Terawaki and David Dolan
TOKYO, March 22 (Reuters) - Japanese retail investor sentiment towards domestic stocks hit its lowest since November after the devastating earthquake and tsunami sparked a nuclear crisis, but it remained well above an all-time low, a special Reuters survey showed.
The benchmark Nikkei average tumbled 10 percent last week after the natural disasters triggered radiation leaks at a nuclear plant and threatened the immediate outlook for the world's third-largest economy.
But though investors remained pessimistic about the outlook for domestic shares, they were not nearly as bearish as in early 2009, when the global economy was still squeezed by the aftermath of the U.S. sub-prime loan crisis.
The poll also showed deep disapproval of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's handling of the ongoing nuclear crisis, and a desire to scale back construction of new nuclear plants.
A large majority of those polled also said they believed the crisis could be a turning point for Japan, jolting it from decades of economic and political stagnation.
"Over the long term, I hope for a revival of Japan, but it's hard to know what will happen with the nuclear accident," said one investor in his 20s, who said he was bearish.
The special edition of the monthly poll was taken shortly after the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11, and showed a 10 point slide in investor sentiment from a similar poll taken earlier in the month.
The Reuters sentiment index fell to minus 30 after the disasters, compared with minus 20 earlier in March. February's sentiment stood at minus 4. The poll is calculated by subtracting the percentage of investors who say they are bearish from those who are bullish.
SPIRIT OF JAPAN
Nearly 73 percent of the respondents to the special poll said they believed the crisis could prove a turning point for the long-stagnant country.
"The Japanese still have reserve strength left. It will take some time but I think this will become a big turning point, like the postwar revival," said one investor.
Underpinning the hopes for a rebuilding, investors turned bullish on shares of real estate and construction companies.
Investors were most pessimistic on shares of financials and insurance companies.
Respondents were highly critical of the current administration's handling of the crisis. Nearly 41 percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of the response of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government, while nearly 28 percent strongly disapproved.
"They do not understand at all the people's feelings or mindset, they are unable to communicate their message," said one respondent about the administration.
Several said the government was slow to respond to the nuclear crisis and has been unwilling to quickly share information with the public.
A majority of those polled said the government should scale back or completely eliminate plans for new nuclear plants. Japan has said it plans to build 14 new power plants by 2030, of which half are expected to be nuclear powered.
About 44 percent of those polled said the number of nuclear plants should be reduced, while 13 percent said nuclear plants should be left out of the plan altogether.
The special edition of the poll surveyed 933 individual investors on March 16-18. During that time the Nikkei average fell as low as 8,639.
The initial March poll surveyed 830 respondents between March 7 and 10, when the Nikkei was hovering around 10,500.
The anonymous poll aims to capture the views of readers of an online magazine aimed at users of the Reuters Japan website http://www.reuters.co.jp (Reporting by Mari Terawaki and David Dolan; Editing by Michael Watson)