Tokyo stocks finished moderately higher Monday in a round of bargain hunting after four straight sessions of declines. The dollar was lower against the yen.
The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues closed up 51.12 points, or 0.50 percent, at 11,289.49 points. The Nikkei lost 46.40 points, or 0.41 percent, on Friday.
The dollar bought 102.79 yen at 5 p.m. Monday, down 0.83 yen from late Friday but above the 102.67 yen it bought in New York later in the day. The currency traded between 102.68 yen and 102.96 yen in Tokyo.
On the stock market, automaker Mazda Motor Corp. and high-technology issues Canon Inc., TDK Corp., and Advantest Corp. rose as traders hunted for bargains.
Koichi Seki, sales manager at Chuo Securities, attributed Monday's gains mostly to "a natural rebound" after the Nikkei lost a total of 248.73 points, or 2.17 percent, over the last four sessions through to Friday.
With the recent slump, "the market's correction appears to almost be done," Seki added.
Investors focused on domestic demand-linked issues Monday amid ongoing concerns about foreign exchange fluctuations following the U.S. dollar's plunge late last year against major currencies, including the yen and euro.
Major banks, including Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. and UFJ Holdings, Inc., gained Monday, as did local contractors like Obayashi Corp. and Tobishima Corp.
The broader TOPIX, or the index of all issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, added 7.00 points, or 0.62 percent, to close at 1,139.18. It fell 1.19 points, or 0.10 percent, on Friday.
Volume on first section was an estimated 1.363 billion shares, down from 1.409 billion shares Friday. Advancers outpaced decliners 1,003 to 461, while 130 issues were unchanged.
In New York Friday, a surge in oil prices sent the major U.S. stock indexes to their lowest levels of the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 78.48, or 0.75 percent, to 10,392.99, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 7.54, or 0.64 percent, to 1,167.87.
In other currencies, the euro rose to $1.3084 late Monday in Tokyo from $1.2974 late Friday. Against the Japanese currency, the euro was up at 134.60 yen from 134.55 yen.
The yield on Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond rose to 1.3500 percent from Friday's finish of 1.3450 percent. Its price fell 0.05 to 100.343 points.