People ride escalators past an advertisement of the Nintendo Co videogame maker at an electronic retailer in Tokyo, Japan, April 25, 2016.
Reuters/Thomas Peter
Shares of Japan's Nintendo Co soared more than 20 percent in early Tokyo trading on Monday, extending last week's gains, on hopes that the popularity of its new Pokemon GO smartphone game will boost its results.
Pokemon GO was launched in the United States last week and shot to the No. 1 free app in Apple Inc's U.S. iTunes store. It was also launched in Australia and New Zealand, and is expected to be rolled out in Japan soon.
Nintendo shares were up 23.5 percent at 20,085 yen ($199.32) each after earlier rising as high as 20,190 yen, their highest since November.
(Reporting by Tokyo markets team; Editing by Stephen Coates)