TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed higher Monday as automakers and other exporters got a lift from the weaker yen while investor concerns over last week’s US missile strike in Syria eased.

Geopolitical tensions spiked after US President Donald Trump ordered the attack on a Syrian air base in retaliation for a deadly chemical weapons attack in the country blamed on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“The US strikes were seen for what they probably are — a one-off warning at this stage to Syria’s President Assad to desist from using chemical weapons in the ongoing civil war,” said Ray Attrill, head of forex strategy at National Australia Bank.

“While Syria-related geopolitical tensions remain high, nothing has occurred as yet over the weekend to suggest these will be the main early-week market driver,” he said in a commentary.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.71 percent, or 133.25 points, to end at 18,797.88, while the broader Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.66 percent, or 9.88 points, to 1,499.65.

Shares won support from a downturn in the yen, with the dollar rebounding to 111.36 yen from 111.07 yen in New York on Friday.

A weak yen is positive for Japanese exporters as it inflates repatriated profits and spurs buying of their shares.

The dollar gained as traders bet a US jobs report, while disappointing, would not derail a plan by the Federal Reserve to lift interest rates again this year.

“The Syria news was bad for markets, but it’s not like something big is going to happen today, (or) tomorrow,” Seiichi Miura, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Bloomberg News.

“And the yen has resumed weakening, allowing exporters to be bought.” Toyota rose 1.09 percent to 5,896 yen while rival automaker Nissan gained 0.74 percent to end at 1,018 yen.

Panasonic was up 1.27 percent at 1,271 yen by the close while steelmaker JFE rose 2.40 percent to 1,852.5 yen.

Toshiba, meanwhile, jumped 6.34 percent to 229.7 yen on the eve of a deadline to submit its twice-delayed earnings report for the last quarter of 2016, as it tallies up massive losses in its US nuclear business. Weekend reports said that the troubled industrial giant may sell its television business, while cash-strapped Toshiba’s prized memory chip unit is already on the auction block.

Japan’s Nikkei business daily and other media said the industry ministry and domestic firms were in talks over cooperating on an investment in Toshiba’s chip unit amid worries about its sensitive technology going abroad.—AFP