Nikkei up as Canon, exporters rise on yen

TOKYO, Apr 9 (Reuters) The Nikkei share average rose 0.91 percent on Monday, with investors picking up Canon Inc. and other exporters encouraged as the dollar remained near a fresh six-week high against the yen hit following a surprisingly strong U.S. jobs report.

Shares of Pentax Corp. jumped nearly 6 percent after its president said on Monday the board of the digital camera and medical equipment maker will decide on its response to a tender offer from Hoya Corp. at a meeting on Tuesday.

''Exporters continue to rise this week on a yen that weakened following the strong U.S. jobs data,'' said Katsuhiko Kodama, senior strategist at Toyo Securities.

The U.S. government said on Friday 180,000 U.S. non-farm jobs were added in March, topping the consensus Wall Street expectation of adding 120,000, and above the upwardly revised February gain of 113,000.

The dollar traded at 119.35 yen in early Tokyo, staying in sight of 119.39 yen, the highest since Feb. 27 hit after the U.S. payrolls report.

A weaker yen is a boon for companies that make the bulk of their sales abroad, as it boosts revenues when earnings from abroad are brought home.

The Nikkei was up 159.23 points at 17,644.01 as of 0036 GMT.

The TOPIX added 0.61 percent at 1,727.57.

''The Nikkei may try for 17,800-18,000 toward the next session if it can recover thinning trade volume.'' On Friday, trade on the Tokyo exchange's first section was the slowest in 10 sessions, with just 1.78 billion shares changing hands.

Shares in KDDI Corp. rose 2.5 percent to 1 million yen after the second-biggest mobile phone operator in Japan said on Sunday it aims to offer a mobile phone service in the United States using a network operated by Sprint Nextel Corp.

Pentax gained 5.6 percent to 774 yen.

Shares of high-tech glass maker Hoya inched up 0.2 percent to 4,110 yen after Pentax President Fumio Urano told reporters on Monday that he was set to resign from his current position, clouding the outlook of Hoya's tender offer for the camera maker.

Shares in exporters rose with Canon rising 1.4 percent to 6,530 yen and Toyota Motor Corp. adding 1.2 percent to 7,490 yen.

Reuters DH VP0647