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. 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. 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)