All 33 industry category of Topix index surged, with Marine Transportation, Securities & Commodities Futures, Transportation Equipment, Mining, Information & Communication, and Real Estate issues being notable gainers.
Investor sentiment received a boost amid optimism that the number of coronavirus cases in New York, a U.S. hotspot for the pandemic, may be peaking, after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed hope the country was seeing a "levelling off" of the coronavirus crisis. New York State reported its first decline in the number of daily coronavirus-related deaths as well as hospitalizations on Sunday.
Major European nations reported lower coronavirus-related fatality toll, with Italy seeing the number of patients in intensive care falling for the second consecutive day, while Spanish officials said deaths fell for the third straight day and France reported its lowest daily toll in a week. However, a rise in cases and deaths in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines kept gains under check.
In Japan, media reports said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to declare a state of emergency in parts of Japan including Tokyo as the number of people infected with the new coronavirus continues to increase.
Developments on the global coronavirus virus pandemic continue to be watched, as concerns over the virus' economic impact have sent markets into a whirlwind in recent weeks. Globally, more than 1.2 million have been infected while at least 65,711 lives have been taken by the virus, according to latest data compiled by John Hopkins University.
Investors also remained focused on oil prices. Oil prices trimmed some of last Friday gains on Monday after meeting between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, initially set to take place Monday, was delayed. Brent crude fell as much as $3 in Asian trading after Saudi Arabia and Russia postponed a meeting over a potential pact to cut production to Thursday. Last week, both Brent and U.S. crude futures surged to their best week on record as Saudi Arabia called for a OPEC+ meeting, signalling there could be progress on a production cut.
Exporters' shares were higher across the board on weaker yen, with Toyota advancing 6.2% to 6,580 yen and Sony 4.6% to 6,550 yen. A cheaper yen is good for Japanese exporters as it makes their products more competitive abroad while inflating profits when repatriated.
Fujifilm Holdings gained 7% to 6,166 yen amid expectations for its medicine Avigan as anti-coronavirus treatment.
Shares in telecoms firms benefitted from a surge in usage by people working from home. Mobile phone carrier KDDI rose 5.8% to 3,278 yen and its bigger rival NTT Docomo climbed 6.8% to 3,369 yen.
CURRENCY: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 100.688 after crossing the 100 level last week. The Japanese yen, often seen as a safe-haven currency, traded at 108.82 per dollar after weakening from levels below 107.4 last week.
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