Japan stocks rise, banks up on brokerage upgrade

(Updates to midsession)

TOKYO, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Japan's TOPIX index rose on Wednesday as bank shares such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) gained on a brokerage upgrade.

Trading houses like Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) and steelmakers including Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T) also rose, but chip-related firms such as Advantest Corp (6857.T) fell, weighing on the tech-heavy Nikkei average.

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 ended the morning session almost flat at 15,214.25 and the broader TOPIX rose 0.4 percent to 1,475.07. (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka)