* Exporters benefit from Wall St rally, yen
* Nissan, carmakers up on China business expansion plans
* U.S. financials' earnings due this week in focus
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average gained 2.3 percent on Tuesday to snap a nine-day falling streak, with banks buoyed by upbeat analyst comments about the U.S. financial sector and exporters lifted by a halt in the yen's sharp appreciation.
Nissan Motor Co surged more than 7 percent on its plans to boost production capacity in China, while Komatsu Ltd jumped more than 6 percent after the Nikkei business daily said the company returned to profitability in the April-June quarter.
In comments to CNBC television, influential analyst Meredith Whitney said major U.S. financials could do well in the second quarter, boosting sentiment ahead of closely-watched bank earnings this week and lifting Wall Street on Monday.
Whitney also upgraded Goldman Sachs to "buy" on Monday, driving its stock higher.
"After a recent bearish run, the market has been looking for an opportunity to rebound, and the analyst comments on the financial sector fit the bill," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
Goldman will release earnings results later on Tuesday, followed by Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc later in the week.
The benchmark Nikkei finished up 211.48 points at 9,261.81. It had slid 2.6 percent the previous day to hit its lowest finish since May 18.
The broader Topix rose 1.9 percent to 868.57.
"Wariness toward Goldman's earnings may have eased somewhat, but caution still remains ahead of the week's other earnings releases which include high tech firms as well as financials," said Yumi Nishimura, a deputy general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"The Nikkei has stopped short of falling below 9,000 but a wait-and-see mood is likely to prevail until most of the key earnings are gauged first."
NISSAN, AUTOMAKERS STRONG
Banks such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbed 5.4 percent to 3,700 yen and Mizuho Financial Group rose 3.1 percent to 199 yen after their U.S. peers gained the previous day.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd gained 2 percent to 350 yen and electronics conglomerate Toshiba Corp rose 3.4 percent to 333 yen following a report by public broadcaster NHK that they will jointly develop a next generation nuclear power reactor.
NHK said the project will be supported by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Automakers rose on news that Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor are raising production capacity in China as brisk local demand helps prop up their earnings at a time when sales virtually everywhere else are in a steep slump.
Nissan gained 7.3 percent to 545 yen, while Honda rose 2.7 percent to 2,435 yen. Toyota Motor Corp added 3.6 percent to 3,500 yen.
Other exporters also gained. Sony Corp jumped 5.5 percent to 2,285 yen and Canon Inc climbed 3.4 percent to 3,020 yen.
Shares of Komatsu shot up 6.6 percent to 1,380 yen. It will likely report an operating profit to 5 billion yen ($54 million) for the April-June quarter, compared to a 48.2 billion yen operating loss in the January-March quarter although that is still a 94 percent fall from a year earlier, the Nikkei said.
Battery maker GS Yuasa Corp gained 5.6 percent to 755 yen, recovering from an earlier drop, as hopes of strong growth in hybrid and electric cars more than offset concerns over dilution in per-share value stemming from its planned issue of new shares.
GS Yuasa said on Monday it planned to issue new shares to raise up to 36.7 billion yen ($394.5 million) to invest in lithium-ion battery development.
The dollar climbed 0.4 percent to 93.28 yen after hitting a five-month low of 91.73 yen.
Trade was active on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with 2.2 billion shares changing hands, compared with last week's daily average of 2 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by more than 2 to 1.
(Additional reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Joseph Radford)