Japanese shares rise as strong U.S. job data lifts sentiment, index heavyweights advance

TOKYO, April 5 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose on Monday as
strong U.S. jobs data lifted optimism on economic recovery from
the pandemic lows, prompting investors to buy index heavyweights
SoftBank Group and Fast Retailing as well as chip-related
stocks.
The Nikkei share average .N225 advanced 0.82% to 30,097.50
by 0157 GMT, while the broader Topix .TOPX rose 0.5% to
1,981.53.
The U.S. labour department said on Friday that nonfarm
payrolls surged by 916,000 jobs last month, the biggest gain
since last August and well above economists' median forecast of
647,000. "Investors have reacted very positively to the strong data
for U.S. employment," said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of
the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.
"U.S. bond yields rose shortly after the job data came out
and that is boosting Japanese bank shares as well."
Index heavyweights Fast Retailing 9983.T , an operator of
Uniqlo brand clothing stores, rose 2.34% and tech start-up
investor SoftBank Group 9984.T gained 1.36%.
Chip-related shares rose, with Advantest 6857.T rising
1.9%, Tokyo Electron 8035.T gaining 0.59%, and Shin-Etsu
Chemical 4063.T rising 0.65%.
Banking shares rose, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
8306.T jumping 2.73%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
8316.T gaining 2.32% and Mizuho Financial Group 8411.T
advancing 2.4%.
Shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines 9104.T jumped 3.89% after
it raised its annual current profit forecast to 120 billion yen
($1.09 billion) from 95 billion yen, helping the shipping sector
.ISHIP.T to become the top gainer among the 33 sector
sub-indexes. Ebara Corp 6361.T , up 4.71%, was the largest percentage
gainer on the Nikkei, followed by Marubeni 8002.T at 3.94% and
Mitsui OSK Lines.
The largest percentage losers in the index were Recruit
Holdings 6098.T , down 1.49%, followed by Takeda Pharmaceutical
4502.T losing 1.06% and Daikin Industries 6367.T down by
0.92 %.

($1 = 110.5600 yen)

(Editing by Shailesh Kuber)