* Nikkei breaks resistance near 10,140, rises over 2 pct
* Exporters strong after Dow breaks above 10,000
* Banks gain in wake of JPMorgan results
TOKYO, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average climbed 1.7 percent on Thursday, bolstered by exporters such as Honda Motor Co after robust U.S. company results and economic data pushed the Dow over 10,000 for the first time in a year.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and other banks gained in the wake of good results from JPMorgan Chase & Co's, boosting hopes other major Wall Street banks will report strong results this week.
U.S. retail sales, excluding autos, rose for a second month, offering cautious optimism that spending would support the economy as it struggles out of recession.
"Nobody thought that consumer spending would suddenly surge so these figures are pretty good, they verify a slow and steady recovery," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a supervisor at the investment advisory section of Okasan Securities.
"But there are signs that the market may not rise all that much more today, particularly since foreign investors didn't seem to be all that keen on Japanese shares in comparison to other Asian share markets yesterday. I think there's still some concern about earnings."
The benchmark Nikkei rose 175.29 points to 10,235.50 after earlier rising over 2 percent, while the broader Topix rose 1.3 percent to 905.91.
Investor optimism about U.S. earnings, already strong after good results from Intel Corp this week, was further bolstered when JPMorgan's quarterly profit rose sharply.
The Dow Jones Industrial average rose above 10,000 for the first time in a year, to 10,015.86 for a gain of 1.5 percent. Other U.S. indexes all rose more than 1 percent.
The Nikkei surged through resistance that had developed around 10,140 -- the level of its 25-day moving average -- and market players said one key focus of the day would be whether it manages to close above that level.
Exporters climbed, with Honda up 1.8 percent to 2,810 yen and Toyota Motor Co rising 1.7 percent to 3,640 yen.
Among banks, top lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 2.5 percent to 496 yen, No. 2 bank Mizuho Financial Group gained 2.3 percent to 181 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advanced 2.1 percent to 3,340 yen.
Elpida Memory leaped 4.3 percent to 1,278 yen after saying that it had posted an operating profit of 500 million yen in the three months to the end of September against a loss of 24.5 billion yen a year earlier. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)