Nikkei rises; November gain biggest in a year

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese stocks rose to a two-week high on Friday as a weaker yen helped exporters, while falling oil prices benefited airline and railway stocks such as ANA Holdings Inc and East Japan Railway Co.

The Nikkei benchmark ended 1.2 percent higher to 17,459.85, the highest closing price since Nov. 14. The benchmark gained 0.6 percent for the week and jumped 6.4 percent for the month, the biggest monthly gain since last November.

Since Oct. 31, the Nikkei gained because of the Bank of Japan's surprise easing and the Government Pension Investment Fund's decision to increase its allocation to Japanese stocks.

Also helping sentiment on Friday was better-than-expected Japanese industrial output, which unexpectedly rose 0.2 percent in October.

Oil prices plunged on Thursday after OPEC chose not to cut production despite huge oversupply and prices sliding by one-third since June.

The broader Topix gained 1.3 percent to 1,410.34. The JPX-Nikkei Index 400 added 1.2 percent to 12,835.53.

(Reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Richard Borsuk)