* Nikkei jumps on relief after U.S. jobs better than thought
* JFE up after agreeing to 55 pct April-June coal price rise
* Fujitsu slips amid dispute over ex-president resignation
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, March 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average climbed 1.5 percent on Monday, boosted by better than expected U.S. jobs data, with exporters gaining on a weaker yen and resource-linked firms up on gains in commodities prices.
Fujitsu Ltd, Japan's largest IT services firm, slipped 2.2 percent after it said on Saturday it has dismissed advisor Kuniaki Nozoe amid a dispute over the circumstances that led to his abrupt resignation as president last year.
U.S. non-farm payrolls shed 36,000 jobs in February compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a loss of 50,000. Investors had been worried that severe winter weather would cause a larger drop.
"The non-farm payrolls were better than expected, but not so much better that they'd provoke concerns about the U.S. hiking interest rates soon," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a strategist at Okasan Securities.
"And last week's news that the Bank of Japan is looking into further easing of its monetary policy is helping too, by having weakened the yen for now."
The Nikkei business daily said on Friday that the Bank of Japan is examining a further easing of its ultra-loose monetary policy and may decide on such a move this month
The dollar rose 0.1 percent to 90.41 yen after earlier climbing as far as 90.69 yen on electronic trading platform EBS, its highest since Feb. 23.
Investors fret about a stronger yen as it eats into exporters' profits when repatriated.
The benchmark Nikkei gained 154.02 points to 10,521.35 after earlier rising nearly 2 percent to 10,567.25, while the broader Topix gained 1.2 percent to 922.00.
JFE Holdings Inc, the world's sixth-largest steelmaker, rose 1.7 percent to 3,505 yen after it said on Friday it had agreed with BHP Billiton to pay $200 per tonne for coking coal for April-June.
That represents a 55 percent increase from the benchmark price for the 2009/10 financial year, ending March 31, of $129.
The 55 percent rise was in line with media and analysts' reports and the price is about a 10 percent discount from the current spot market price of about $220-$230 a tonne.
Nippon Steel Corp gained 2 percent to 350 yen. The world's second-biggest steelmaker declined to comment on whether it had struck a deal with BHP, the world's largest diversified miner.
Exporters climbed, with Canon Inc up 2.4 percent to 3,980 yen and Honda Motor Co rising 2.1 percent to 3,175 yen. Sony Corp rose 3.6 percent to 3,320 yen.
Commodities gained, with copper up 3 percent on Friday as investors took better than expected jobs data as a sign that demand for the industrial metal would continue to improve. Other metals gained as well.
Oil rose to a seven-week high on Friday.
Trading house Mitsubishi Corp advanced 2 percent to 2,331 yen and fellow trader Mitsui & Co gained 2.6 percent to 1,491 yen. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Joseph Radford)