* Nikkei breaks resistance near 10,140, rises over 2 pct
* Exporters strong after Dow breaks above 10,000
* Banks gain in wake of JPMorgan results
* Elpida jumps after posting profit, seen as good sign
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average
climbed 2.1 percent on Thursday, bolstered by exporters such as
Sony Corp <6758.T> after robust U.S. company results and data
pushed the Dow over 10,000 for the first time in a year.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group <8306.T> and other banks
gained in the wake of good results from JPMorgan Chase & Co's
<JPM.N>, boosting hopes other major Wall Street banks will report
strong results this week. []
U.S. retail sales, excluding autos, rose for a second month,
offering cautious optimism that spending would support the
economy as it struggles out of recession. []
"Nobody thought that consumer spending would suddenly surge
so these figures are pretty good, they verify a slow and steady
recovery," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a supervisor at the investment
advisory section of Okasan Securities.
"But there are signs that the market may not rise all that
much more today, particularly since foreign investors didn't seem
to be all that keen on Japanese shares in comparison to other
Asian share markets yesterday. I think there's still some concern
about earnings."
The benchmark Nikkei <> rose 212.41 points to 10,272.62,
while the broader Topix <> rose 1.6 percent to 909.01.
The Nikkei surged through resistance that had developed
around 10,140 -- the level of its 25-day moving average -- and
market players said one key focus of the day would be whether it
manages to close above that level.
Investor optimism about U.S. earnings, already strong after
good results from Intel Corp <INTC.O> this week, was further
bolstered when JPMorgan's quarterly profit rose sharply.
The Dow Jones Industrial average <> rose above 10,000 for
the first time in a year, to 10,015.86 for a gain of 1.5 percent.
Other U.S. indexes all rose more than 1 percent.
"Given the gains in the Dow and the general mood of global
stock markets, it wouldn't be that surprising to see the Nikkei
rise as far as 11,000," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio
manager at Daiwa SB Investments.
"But Japan still lags overseas markets, and we're not seeing
the same fund inflows that they are."
BANKS, EXPORTERS
Among banks, top lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
<8306.T> rose 2.3 percent to 496 yen, No. 2 bank Mizuho Financial
Group <8411.T> gained 1.1 percent to 179 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui
Financial Group <8316.T> advanced 2.1 percent to 3,340 yen.
But some in the market were doubtful about how long this
would continue, noting that the prospect of a loan moratorium
proposed by Banking Minister Shizuka Kamei still hung over the
market.
"Financial shares are likely to see some short-covering after
the JPMorgan results, but fundamentally it's still too early to
see a real recovery in this sector, and this will help limit the
Nikkei's rise," said Kenichi Hirano from Tachibana Securities.
Attention is also on more U.S. financial results this week,
including Goldman Sachs <GS.N> and Citigroup <C.N> on Thursday.
[] []
Exporters climbed, with Sony up 3.8 percent to 2,605 yen,
Honda Motor Co <7267.T> gaining 2.5 percent to 2,830 yen and
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> rising 2.2 percent to 3,650 yen.
Elpida Memory <6665.T> jumped 5 percent to 1,285 yen after
saying that it had posted an operating profit of 500 million yen
in the three months to the end of September against a loss of
24.5 billion yen a year earlier.
"This Elpida news may be taken as a sign that the whole
sector is likely to see earnings recovery, with autos also likely
to do pretty well," said Ishiguro at Okasan Securities.
Trade was moderate, with 1 billion shares changing hands on
the Tokyo exchange's first section compared with last week's
morning average of 980 million.
Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by more than 4 to
1.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
