The Nikkei Stock Average hit a near 15-year high Monday morning as investor sentiment was lifted by record highs on Wall Street before the weekend after the eurozone agreed to an extension of financial aid to Greece, Japan's News Agency (Kyodo) reported.
The 225-issue Nikkei rose 148.89 points, or 0.81 percent, from Friday to 18,481.19. It briefly rose as high 18,509.08, the highest intraday level since May 2000.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 6.90 points, or 0.46 percent, at 1,507.23.