By Sarah Turner
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- Japanese stocks traded marginally higher on Friday, with the Nikkei Stock Average JP:100000018 -0.19% showing a fractional gain at 9,547.49. U.S. stocks ended with small gains on Thursday, with key jobs data on track for later in the global trading day Friday. Banks were helping the market to gain ground in Japan, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. JP:8316 +1.84% SMFG +1.09% up 1.4% after the firm was upgraded to overweight from equalweight at Morgan Stanley, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Nomura Holdings Inc. JP:8604 +1.15% NMR +1.45% rose 0.8% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. MTU +0.44% climbed 0.7%.
