TOKYO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average bounced back towards eight-month highs on Monday after stronger-than-expected earnings from JPMorgan lifted Wall Street, helping offset the effects on sentiment of China's latest move to tighten credit.
Gains in U.S. banks and other financials stocks on Friday helped soften the negative impact of reports showing weak U.S. December retail sales and consumer sentiment hurt by higher gasoline prices.
The benchmark Nikkei was up 0.5 percent or 55.48 points at 10,553.57. On Friday it fell 0.9 percent after a surprisingly weak settlement of options for January.
The broader Topix index climbed 0.6 percent to 936.16. (Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)