OREANDA-NEWS. February 10, 2015. Tokyo stocks rose 0.36 percent on Monday after the yen weakened against the dollar in response to a strong US jobs report.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 63.43 points to close at 17,711.93, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 0.55 percent, or 7.73 points, at 1,424.92.

"The short-term momentum in US employment was stronger than we expected," said Shoji Hirakawa, chief equity strategist at Okasan Securities.

"With the spike in US two-year note yields spurring yen weakness, that backdrop should serve as a catalyst for gains in Japanese stocks," he told Bloomberg News.

On Friday the US Labor Department said 257,000 jobs were created in January and revised upward already healthy growth in the prior two months. It also said hourly wage growth gained 0.5 percent, a big improvement after a December drop.

The report fuelled speculation that the Fed will raise interest rates in the middle of the year pushing the dollar higher.

The greenback was at 118.82 yen in afternoon trade on Monday, slightly down from 119.00 yen in New York but still sharply up from 117.33 yen in Tokyo earlier Friday.

A weak yen is positive for Japanese exporters as it increases their profits when repatriated.

Toyota rose 1.01 percent to 7,700.0 yen while Canon added 0.44 percent to 3,732.5 yen.

Nissan rose 1.38 percent to 1,064.0 yen.

Sony fell 2.37 percent to 3,064.0 yen after almost touching a five-year high last week on an improved earnings outlook.