Nikkei rises on BOJ's bold easing; reflation stocks lead gains

* BOJ announces bold monetary easing steps

* Market welcomes purchases of Reits and ETFs - fund

* REITs and other reflationary stocks outperform

TOKYO, April 4 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average reversed course on Thursday when the Bank Of Japan announced a sweeping monetary expansion campaign that will include heavy investment in REITs and ETFs, boosting reflationary stocks such as real estate firms and banks. The Nikkei rose 0.7 percent to 12,450.71, reversing a 1.7 percent decline at the midday break. The Topix rose 1.1 percent to 1,021.07. The REIT index, which was trading in negative territory, rose 3.5 percent. Japan Hotel Reit Investment Corp rose 3.4 percent, Mori Hills Reit Investment Corp jumped 5.0 percent and Nippon Building Fund Inc added 2.7 percent. Banks and real estate stocks, which are beneficiaries of the government's reflationary policy, rose as well, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gaining 2.6 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group adding 3.0 percent and Mitsui Fudosan Co jumping 4.0 percent. The central bank said it will bring forward open-ended asset buying and extend the duration of government bonds it buys in its easing program, as expected. It also said that it will increase purchases of Japan real-estate investment trusts (REITs) by 30 billion yen per year and increase purchase of exchange traded funds (ETFs) by 1 trillion yen per year. "The market welcomed the BOJ's stance...It gave an impression that it is a central bank which can communicate with the market well," said Yasuo Sakuma, portfolio manager at Bayview Asset Management.