(Corrects paragraph 3 to show the yen hit a one-month low ... not a one-month high)
* Nikkei lifted by significant yen weakening, U.S. jobs data
* JGC jumps after newspaper report of Algeria deal
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, June 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average was up 1 percent on Monday after hitting an eight-month high, boosted as better than expected U.S. jobs figures for May raised hopes for an economic recovery and a weaker yen cheered exporters such as Canon Inc and Toyota Motor Corp.
JGC Corp shot up nearly 5 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday that the plant engineering firm has won a 150 billion yen ($1.5 billion) order for a natural gas project in Algeria.
Exporters led the market's gains after the yen hit a one-month low against the dollar on Friday near 99 yen when the jobs report showed the United States shed 345,000 jobs May, well below the 520,000 expected by economists.
Digital camera maker Canon jumped 4.6 percent to 3,400 yen and Sony Corp added 0.9 percent to 2,720 yen.
Honda Motor Co advanced 1.4 percent to 2,890 yen, while Nissan Motor Co was up 0.8 percent at 603 yen.
Toyota rose 1.3 percent to 3,910 yen after the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday that the world's biggest automaker is targeting 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in cost cuts for compact car production.
"Investors are welcoming the weaker yen and the better-than-expected U.S. jobs report," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei was up 1 percent at 9,865.39 after hitting 9,914.07 to reach its highest level since Oct. 8.
That followed a 2.6 percent gain made last week, and a rise of almost 8 percent in May. So far, it has recovered about 40 percent from its March lows on a growing view that the worst may have passed for the global economy.
The broader Topix added 1 percent to 925.61.
The focus is now on when the Nikkei will be able to reclaim the psychologically important 10,000 mark.
"The market has the momentum to reach 10,000 within the next few days," said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management.
"The question is if the index can remain above 10,000. Most participants already expect an economic recovery to take place after a recent run of upbeat data, so the market will be vulnerable to profit-taking at that level."
The jobs data released on Friday also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent, its highest since 1983, and market watchers warned that the road to recovery for the global economy is looking rocky.
U.S. stocks flip-flopped throughout Friday's session, with the major indexes ending split as investors paused to consider conflicting signals in the jobs data.
Shares of Nomura Holdings Inc rose 2.9 percent to 785 yen after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on Japan's largest brokerage to "overweight" from "equal-weight", citing an improved medium-term profit outlook.
Chip-related stocks declined after Intel Corp, the world's top chip maker, slid on Friday in the wake of an industry forecast for a steep drop in global chip sales. The Philadelphia semiconductor index dropped nearly 2 percent.
Advantest Corp, the world's No.2 maker of chip testing machines, slipped 1.4 percent to 1,871 yen, while Tokyo Electron Ltd shed 3.3 percent to 4,740 yen to become the top drag on the Nikkei 225.
Shares of JGC Corp gained 4.5 percent to 1,610 yen.
Construction machinery maker Komatsu Ltd climbed 5.4 percent to 1,552 yen after Nomura Securities lifted its rating on the stock to "buy" from "neutral" and raised its target price to 1,900 yen from 1,430 yen.
"We see a growing possibility of an earnings recovery from the year ending in March 2011 on a bottom in emerging markets and Komatsu's solid competitiveness and cost control," the brokerage wrote in a note to clients.
On Friday, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of Komatsu with an "overweight" rating and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co with an "equal-weight" rating, citing the potential for profit growth as the global economy recovers.
Morgan Stanley set its target prices for both stocks at 1,800 yen.
Shares of Hitachi Construction climbed 2.9 percent to 1,693 yen. (Additional reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Michael Watson)