Tokyo stocks rose 0.73 percent on Monday, hitting a fresh 15-year high on news eurozone ministers tentatively agreed to extend Greece's bailout by four months, giving it some crucial breathing room. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 134.62 points to close at 18,466.92, after hitting its best close since 2000 last week. The Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.17 percent, or 2.50 points, to 1,502.83.
"Greece has been given a lifeline, even if just short-term, which is a positive boost to the market," Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, told Bloomberg News. "Investors are getting into risk-on mode. However, Greece has only earned itself four months so we'll see the same problems again around June." On Friday, US stocks bolted to new records after the eurozone conditionally gave Greece the bailout extension, easing worries over its future in the eurozone.
The bailout will be extended as long as Greece sets out key reform commitments by Monday, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said following a meeting with finance ministers in Brussels. In Tokyo share trading, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rose 0.69 percent to 654.6 yen after a consortium led by the nation's top heavy machinery maker struck a $3.36 billion deal to build Qatar's first subway system.
Takata fell 2.63 percent to 1,332.0 yen after US regulators said they were fining the auto parts maker $14,000 a day, as they accused it of stonewalling the investigation into defective airbags linked to at least five deaths. Honda, Takata's biggest customer, slipped 0.91 percent to 3,928.5 yen. After markets closed, Honda said its chief executive Takanobu Ito was stepping down but would remain on the company's board. It did not give a reason for Ito's resignation, but Honda has been dented by the Takata air bag scare which sparked the recall of more than 20 million vehicles produced by 10 major automakers, including Honda.
In other trade, Toyota shares rose 0.64 percent to end at 8,130.0 yen, while Sony was up 0.14 percent to 3,205.5 yen. On forex markets, the euro was slightly lower at $1.1380 and 135.37 yen, from $1.1381 and 135.51 yen on Friday in New York where it got a boost from the conditional debt deal.
The dollar barely weakened to 118.95 yen from 119.03 yen in US trade. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.86 percent to 18,140.44, notching its first record of 2015, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.61 percent to 2,110.30, also a record. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.63 percent.