* Nikkei up but yen pressure continues
* Consumer lenders plumment on Takefuji bankruptcy report
* But broader Nikkei unscathed, woes factored in
* China shares gain but wariness over spat continues
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei climbed 1.4 percent on Monday for the benchmark's biggest one-day gain in over a week, but market players said further rises would be held in check by the yen's continued strength against the dollar.
Shares of consumer lenders plunged after media said Takefuji Corp is making final preparations to file for bankruptcy protection from creditors, although the firm said later that it has not decided anything on such a move.
Takefuji, crippled by the reimbursement of overcharged interest, ended the day untraded and overwhelmed with sell orders, with the price indicated at 166 yen -- down 2.9 percent from Friday's close.
But market players said there was virtually no impact on the broader market, with investors focusing more on moves in the currency markets, where the dollar was on shaky ground against the yen despite talk Japan had tried again on Friday to intervene to weaken the currency.
"The dollar shot up above 85 yen last week on talk that there was intervention, but it hasn't been able to sustain that kind of gain. It's hard to buy stocks with the currency at this level," said Noritsugu Hirakawa, a strategist at Okasan Securities.
"If the yen would weaken there'd be a bit more buying interest. But on top of the strong yen there's also a lot of events this week -- the BOJ tankan survey as well as U.S. indicators -- so a lot of investors are sidelined."
The dollar was flat at 84.21 yen after on Friday spiking in Asian trade on rumours of intervention but then falling to its lowest since Japan launched yen-selling currency intervention on Sept. 15.
The benchmark Nikkei rose 131.47 points to 9,603.14 by midmorning, set for its biggest monthly gain since March with a rise of some 8.8 percent. But it is up only some 2.4 percent on the quarter.
The broader Topix climbed 1.3 percent to 849.30.
U.S. durable goods orders for August rose 2 percent excluding transportation, after sliding 2.8 percent in July, but a decline in aircraft and motor vehicle bookings depressed overall orders 1.3 percent.
A gauge of business spending plans, though, rebounded 4.1 percent after falling 5.3 percent in July, enough to push all major indexes up roughly 2 percent or more.
Market players were sceptical about the strength of Friday's Wall Street rebound, noting that trade in New York was thin and that much of the rise appeared to be short-covering after losses earlier in the week.
"Wall Street's rise has provided a bit of a boost but gains on the U.S. data are mainly because the figures weren't quite as bad as expected, not that they were really good. So gains on this alone will be limited," said Takashi Ushio, head of the investment strategy division at Marusan Securities.
CONSUMER LENDERS HIT
Consumer lenders tanked after the reports emerged about Takefuji, with Tokyo Shoko Research saying that the company had $5.2 billion in liabilities as of the end of June.
Analysts have warned that Takefuji could struggle to survive given that it does not have the financial backing of a major bank like competitors Acom Co and Promise Co.
But market players, noting the industry has been struggling for some time, said the news would not raise broader fears of financial instability or seriously affect the Nikkei as a whole.
"There's definitely a big impact on the sector but otherwise, the market's known for a long time that the firms are struggling and that's caused things to be mostly factored in," said Hiroaki Osakabe, fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management.
Acom lost 10 percent to 1,344 yen and fellow consumer lender Aiful plunged 22 percent to 90 yen.
Exporters climbed broadly, boosted by the Wall Street rise, with Canon Inc gaining 2.5 percent to 3,890 yen and Honda Motor Co up 2.9 percent at 3,015 yen.
Mitsui & Co and other commodities-linked firms rose after metals gained broadly on Friday, when oil climbed strongly as well. Mitsui & Co gained 3.3 percent to 1,247 yen and fellow trader Mitsubishi Corp gained 3.2 percent to 1,977 yen.
Shares of companies with strong exposure to China jumped after falling last week amidst a diplomatic spat between China and Japan, but market players said this was more short covering than anything else and the issue was still a concern for many.
Komatsu climbed 3.2 percent to 1,935 and Hitachi Construction rose 1.9 percent to 1,846 yen.
Trade was moderate, with 1.7 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section, while advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by more than 5 to 1.