Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.5 percent to a six-month closing high on Friday, as bank stocks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) surged after stress tests eased uncertainty over the health of U.S. lenders. Banks rallied for a second straight day with shares in big lenders hitting multi-month highs, after the U.S. government's assessment of bank health reassured investors about the stability of the financial system. The bank subindex .IBNKS.T ended up 3.9 percent. "A rise in bank shares picked up pace in afternoon trade as U.S. index futures were boosted following the results of the stress tests," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management. "The stock market was also supported by investor expectations that the economy and company earnings would improve." The benchmark Nikkei .N225 advanced 47.13 points to 9,432.83, its highest finish since November 5 and taking its gain for the week to 5.1 percent -- the biggest gain since March. The benchmark has recovered 34 percent from March bear market lows but is down 33 percent from its close a year ago. Some analysts said they saw resistance around 9,500. The broader Topix climbed 1.1 percent to 895.35 but gains were capped as some investors chose to cash in after the market's recent sharp rises. As the bank stress tests are out of the way, investors were looking to monthly U.S. employment figures due at 1230 GMT on Friday for signs that the U.S. labour market is bottoming out. TOYOTA TROUBLES Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) fell 1.5 percent to 3,980 yen after the Nikkei business daily said it was likely to forecast a bigger operating loss this financial year as global car demand stays weak. After the close, Toyota said it lost $6.9 billion in the fourth quarter and forecast a 850 billion yen operating loss for the current financial year, higher than the Nikkei had reported.

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