LEAD: Japan shares jump 1.1 per cent on positive US employment data

Feb 6, 2012, 6:35 GMT

Tokyo - Japanese stocks rose 1.1 per cent Monday to a three-month high, led by exporters, as market sentiment was bolstered by a report about the better-than-estimated US jobless rate.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 97.27 points, or 1.1 per cent, to end at 8,929.2 while the broader Topix index was up 9.16 points, or 1.2 per cent, at 769.85.

Shares in exporters rose strongly. Toyota Motor Corp jumped 3 per cent, Nissan Motor Co was up 3.28 per cent, Sony soared 3.97 per cent and Komatsu Ltd climbed 3.62 per cent.

The United States is a key market for Japan's export-oriented manufacturers, many of which were hard hit by last year's tsunami and earthquake.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.23 per cent after the US Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 per cent in January, reaching a near-three-year low.

On currency markets at 3 pm (0600 GMT), the dollar traded at 76.74-75 yen, up from Friday's 5 pm quote of 76.18-19 yen.

The euro was quoted at 100.43-44 yen, up from 100.16-20 yen late Friday, and at 1.3086-3087 dollars, down from 1.3148-3149 dollars.