The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 93.05 points to 8,924.98 by the break, coming off an intra-day high of 8,949.32, the highest level since October 31.

The Topix index of all first-section issues rose 1.10 percent, or 8.38 points, to 769.07.

Share prices levelled off after a strong start on the upbeat US jobs data released on Friday after Tokyo closed.

"The index's upward trend has ceased for now," Fumiyuki Nakanishi, SMBC Friend Securities' general manager of investment, told Dow Jones newswires, tipping the Nikkei to stay in the 8,900-8,950 range for the day.

A meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy slated for Monday will be closely watched, he added.

Panasonic soared 7.17 percent to 642 yen despite its forecast of a record $10.2 billion loss for the year to March, as some of the negative sentiment had been priced in.

Mitsubishi Motors rose 1.05 percent to 96 yen after news reports that it was to stop manufacturing automobiles in Europe around 2013 as the carmaker shifts its focus to emerging markets.

Nikon was up 10.44 percent to 2,051 yen after a positive appraisal of its October-December results, with a net loss due largely to the impact of last year's record flooding in Thailand.

Market sources said the camera and precision-equipment maker's results came in far better than its competitors such as Ricoh, which was down 1.66 percent at 591 yen Monday morning.

A strong US jobs report for January sent US stocks soaring on Friday as investors celebrated a surge in job growth that pointed to new vitality in a fragile recovery for the world's biggest economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.23 percent to 12,860.23, its highest close since May 2008 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 1.61 percent to 2,905.66, its best close since December 2000 and the dot.com collapse.