By Junko Fujita
TOKYO, April 5 (Reuters) - Japanese shares closed higher on Monday, as strong U.S. jobs data lifted optimism about a recovery in the world's largest economy, prompting investors to buy index heavyweights SoftBank Group and Fast Retailing along with chip-related stocks.
The Nikkei share average .N225 ended 0.82% higher at 30,089.25, hitting the 30,000-mark for the first time in more than two weeks. The broader Topix .TOPX gained 0.6% to close at 1,983.54.
The U.S. labour department said on Friday non-farm payrolls surged by 916,000 jobs last month, the biggest gain since last August and well above economists' median forecast of 647,000. 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 jobs 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, gained 2.35%, while tech start-up investor SoftBank Group 9984.T rose 2.1%.
Chip-related shares rose, with Advantest 6857.T rising 1.9%, Tokyo Electron 8035.T gaining 0.36%, and Shin-Etsu Chemical 4063.T adding 0.16%.
Banking and securities sectors .ISECU.T .IBNKS.T also advanced, with Nomura Holdings 8604.T jumping 4.3%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 8306.T gained 3.05%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T rose 3.21%, and Mizuho Financial Group 8411.T advanced 2.81%.
Shipping firms received a big boost after Mitsui OSK Lines 9104.T , up 5.71%, on Friday raised its annual current profit forecast to 120 billion yen ($1.09 billion) from 95 billion yen. Yusen 9101.T jumped 5.66% and Kawasaki Kisen
9179.T climbed 4.86%, helping their sector .ISHIP.T become the top gainer among the 33 sector sub-indexes.
The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix names were Mitsui & Co 8031.T up 4.65 %, followed by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc 8316.T .
The underperformers among the Topix 30 were Keyence 6861.T , down 1.89%, and Recruit Holdings 6098.T that fell 1.59%. ($1 = 110.5600 yen) (Editing by Uttaresh.V)