Japan stocks jump on window-dressing as banks bought

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese stocks jumped on Friday as investors bought to raise their portfolio value in the second-to-last session of the fiscal year, with Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and other banks gaining.

Oil and gas field developer Inpex Holdings Inc (1605.T: Quote, Profile, Research) extended gains on a continued rally in crude prices, with buying of some blue-chip exporters also helping to buoy the market. "The market tested the downside in the morning and didn't fall, so investors are now turning to window-dressing given that Monday is the final day of the fiscal year," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities.

"Once this got started, everyone else is joining in. After all, who's against a higher portfolio, even by just one yen?"

Pension funds appeared to be among the buyers, he added.

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 was up 1.8 percent at 12,836.29, a rise of more than 200 points. The broader TOPIX was up 1.5 percent at 1,244.52.

Mizuho Financial was up 2 percent at 387,000 yen and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Japan's largest lender, rose 1.5 percent to 890 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T: Quote, Profile, Research) erased its morning losses to edge up 0.6 percent at 692,000 yen. Inpex was up 2.7 percent at 1.16 million yen. Online networking site host Mixi Inc (2121.T: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped 8.1 percent to 1.07 million yen after Goldman Sachs raised its rating to "buy" from "neutral," even while lowering its 12-month target price for the issue to 1.5 million yen from 1.8 million yen.

Mixi shares had been hit after matching an all-time high in December, as traffic volume shifted to mobile devices from PCs, hurting profitability.

But computer page views showed signs of bottoming in January-February, and growth in Mixi's mobile page views is accelerating, analyst Natsuko Higuchi wrote in a note to investors.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Hugh Lawson)