(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Tokyo stocks rose 1.16 percent on Monday as upbeat US jobs data sparked a rally on Wall Street and boosted the dollar against the yen, helping Japanese exporter shares.
The Nikkei 225 index added 182.30 points to finish at 15,890.95, while the Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 1.08 percent, or 13.86 points, to 1,296.40.
The US Labor Department said Friday that the world's biggest economy created 248,000 jobs in September and the jobless rate dipped to a six-year low of 5.9 percent.
The report - which is welcome news after a weak showing in August - is the latest batch of data indicating the economy is on track to recovery.
It also helped take attention from recent concerns about the economies of China and Europe and the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the US.
Wall Street rallied, with the Dow climbing 1.24 percent, the S&P 500 jumping 1.12 percent and the Nasdaq up 1.03 percent.
On currency markets the dollar surged as investors bet the improved jobs situation will put further pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates sooner than its mid-2015 timetable.
The greenback was at 109.50 yen in Tokyo, down from 109.75 yen in New York, but sharply up from 108.98 yen in Tokyo earlier Friday.
The weaker yen is a plus for Japanese exporters as its inflates their profitability.
Dealers said Tokyo investors were looking to earnings results from Japanese firms later this month after a sales tax hike in April stalled growth in the number three economy.
"Investors have already factored in a dollar rate at 110 yen, so unless something more fundamental moves, market gains may be more limited beyond this point," Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager at Chibagin Asset Management, told Dow Jones Newswires.
"From a macro-level, Japan's economy is not in very good shape, however, so some government policy assistance may be in the offing, as this matters to stock investors, just as earnings revisions do."
Toyota shares rose 1.47 percent to 6,383.0 yen, Sony was up 2.21 percent at 1,937.0 yen while Canon gained 0.88 percent to 3,520.0 yen
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