Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, jumped 2.5 percent after the company said it will streamline its management.
Fanuc Corp., an industrial-robot manufacturer that gets almost 80 percent of its sales overseas, climbed 3.8 percent after the yen weakened.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., the second-largest shipping line by sales, leapt 3.8 percent after a gauge of cargo tariffs increased.
Stocks also rose after capital investment grew.
Japan’s economy contracted 1.1 percent on an annual basis in the quarter ended December, its first decline in five quarters, according to the Cabinet Office. The median forecast of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 2 percent drop. Capital investment gained 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months.
The Topix has increased 6.7 percent this year, compared with gains of 5.7 percent by the S&P 500 and 4.4 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.
European stocks rose to their highest level since September 2008 as a smaller-than-estimated contraction in Japan’s economy spurred speculation that the global recovery will continue.
John Wood Group Plc soared 14 percent as General Electric Co. agreed to buy its well-support division for $2.8 billion.
Credit Suisse Group AG added 1.9 percent after Switzerland’s second-biggest bank agreed to sell 6 billion Swiss francs ($6.19 billion) of contingent convertible bonds to shareholders in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
European stocks recovered their losses on Feb. 11 as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down and handed power to the military, bowing to the demands of protesters who have occupied Tahrir Square in central Cairo for the past few weeks.
Carrefour SA, the world’s second-largest retailer by sales, advanced 1.1 percent to 35.77 euros as JPMorgan Chase & Co. added the shares to its analyst focus list.
Nexans SA jumped 3.9 percent to 68.02 euros after the world’s largest cable maker posted 2010 net income of 82 million euros, compared with 2009 profit of 8 million euros.
U.S. stocks ended Monday's session mixed, as investors digested President Obama's 2012 budget proposal in a quiet trading session.
Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500), Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) and Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) were among the top performers on the Dow, helped by a Chinese trade balance report that showed a 51% jump in imports last month for the world's now second-largest economy. Copper futures also climbed 2.1% during the session.
Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) and Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) were the biggest losers on the blue-chip index.
President Obama unveiled his administration's $3.7 trillion budget proposal, which will cut the nation's long-term deficit by about $1.1 trillion over the next 10 years.
Traders however said there was little for Wall Street to react to in the White House's proposal.
Companies: Shares of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). plunged 11%, after private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice announced plans to buy the company for $3.2 billion.
FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) and UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) shares fell 1% in aftermarket trading after FedEx lowered its third-quarter outlook, citing the bad weather that plagued most of the nation this year and higher fuel costs.
Shares of General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) rose 0.8%, after the industrial conglomerate said it would purchase an oil-and-gas engineering company for $2.8 billion.
Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) rose 7% on heavy volume after Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) confirmed it was working on creating branded single-brew coffee products, but declined to say if it was working on a separate product or a partner. Green Mountain, with its Keurig cup system, is the largest producer of single-serve coffee products.
Netflix (NFLX) shares rose 7%, after the company's stock was upgraded by two investment firms. Shares also got a boost after chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM, Fortune 500) said at an industry conference that it planned to bring streaming video onto Google Android-enabled smart phones.
Internet radio site Pandora filed late Friday to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.
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