Nikkei rises on weak yen, strong U.S. jobs report

By Joshua Hunt

TOKYO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks rose on Monday morning as the yen weakened considerably against the dollar after Friday's strong U.S. jobs report solidified expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December.

The Nikkei share average gained 2.1 percent to end the morning session at 19,678.39.

On Friday, data showed U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased 271,000 in October, while the unemployment rate fell to 5 percent, pushing the dollar to a 7-month high against its peers by Monday morning in Asia.

"U.S. dollar strength has buoyed sentiment and lots of exporters and big names in Japan are benefiting as investors chase that dollar strength and dollar asset exposure, taking a bit of wind out of small and mid-cap domestic shares," said Gavin Parry, managing director of Parry International Trading.

"We've moved 500 points deeper into reaching 20,000, which would fill the gap from the August leg down."

The Topix subindex for banks added 3.8 percent during the morning session. Market players said sentiment was aided by a report saying Japan's three largest banks would likely accelerate the unwinding of cross-held shares, and that they plan to provide more details when they report first-half earnings.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc gained 5 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc rose 4.7 percent and Mizuho Financial Group Inc added 3.4 percent.

Japan's insurance sector and precision machinery shares each added 4.7 percent during the morning session.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp shares soared 5.4 percent on raised guidance for the financial year ending in March. The utility is the third-largest company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by market capitalization.

Toshiba Corp tumbled 6.7 percent after the company reported a half-year operating loss and announced it was suing five former executives.

The broader Topix gained 2 percent to end the morning session at 1,594.01, and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 rose 2 percent to 14,345.95.

(Reporting by Joshua Hunt; Editing by Christopher Cushing)