Tokyo--Tokyo stocks opened 1.32 percent higher Monday, trailing a surge on Wall Street after a solid US jobs report, while Sharp and Toshiba shares slumped amid concerns over the health of their balance sheets.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 255.17 points to 19,634.36 at the start.
On Friday, Wall Street stocks surged after the Labor Department reported the US economy added a solid 223,000 jobs in April and unemployment fell to a seven-year low of 5.4 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.49 percent while the broad-based S&P 500 jumped 1.35 percent, with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index up 1.17 percent.
Sharp plunged 31 percent to 178 yen in early trade, after news reports that the firm is considering reducing its capital substantially to ease its tax burden.
Toshiba remained ask-only with selling orders overwhelming bids after it withdrew its earnings forecast for the past fiscal year and said it won't pay a dividend.
Toyota rose 1.23 percent to 8,381.0 yen after it said its annual profit accelerated 19 percent to a record $18.1 billion, while news reports said it and Mazda are considering a comprehensive tie-up in environmentally-friendly technology.
The dollar was changing hands at 119.79 yen early Monday, compared with 119.77 yen in New York late Friday.
The euro fetched $1.1195 and 134.15 yen in Tokyo against $1.1208 and 134.25 yen in New York.
AFP
