Asian markets up

HONG KONG, China (Reuters) -- Asian stocks rose on Friday after a second straight session of gains on Wall Street helped ease fears about tighter credit conditions, with investors favoring shares that offer strong earnings prospects.

Also soothing jitters about the fallout from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, Moody's said the impact was limited for Asian banks due to smaller exposures.

South Korea's Shinhan Financial climbed 3.4 percent a day after posting better-than-expected quarterly profit, but investors punished global miner Rio Tinto following a 6 percent fall in its first-half profit.

At 0020 GMT, Tokyo's Nikkei average had climbed 0.6 percent as electronics components maker Kyocera added 2.7 percent and Toyota Motor rebounded 1.0 percent ahead of its results.

"A rise in the U.S. market, higher Chicago futures and the stabilizing yen should help Japanese stocks, especially exporters and others with good earnings results," said Hiroichi Nishi, a general manager of equity marketing at Nikko Cordial Securities.

South Korea's benchmark KOSPI rose 1.6 percent, paced by gains in Shinhan Financial. Market heavyweight Samsung electronics advanced 2.2 percent and top lender Kookmin Bank added 1.2 percent.

"We're likely to gain following the lead of U.S. markets, although advances are likely to come in spurts given that there's still not enough confidence global markets have initiated a sustained recovery," said Kim Hak-kyun, an analyst at Korea Investment and Securities.

In Australia, investors sold Rio Tinto, sending its shares down 0.8 percent, but advances of 0.6 percent for rival miner BHP Billiton and 2.6 percent for Macquarie Bank helped drive the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index up 0.2 percent.

MSCI's measure of Asia Pacific stocks excluding Japan rose 0.5 percent, adding to Thursday's 0.6 percent rise, and pulling up from a one-month intraday low plumbed in the previous session. E-mail to a friend

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