Australian shares up as Wesfarmers jumps on spin-off plans; NZ slips

* Aussie shares up as much as 0.5 pct

* Banks cap gains

* NZ shares buoyed by healthcare, construction

By Chris Thomas

March 16 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Friday,boosted by retail giant Wesfarmers which soared after announcingplans to spin off its Coles supermarket division, but falls inbanking stocks limited gains.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.3 percent or 14.6points to 5,935.4 by 0031 GMT, but was set to finish the weeklower. The benchmark fell 0.2 percent on Thursday.

Investors rushed to buy Wesfarmers' stock after itannounced plans to spin off its Coles supermarket chain and listit on the Australian Securities Exchange, sending shares up asmuch as 6 percent - its biggest intraday surge in over eightyears.

Rival Woolworths rose as much as 2 percent.

Materials stocks added to the gains on the index, riding onstrong metal prices, with top miners BHP Billiton andRio Tinto up 1.2 percent and 1.1 percent,respectively.

South32 Ltd rose as much as 3.6 percent afterCredit Suisse upgraded the stock to "neutral" from"underperform".

Fashion retailer Premier Investments was the topgainer on the index, up as much as 7.5 percent to its highestsince Oct. 2016 after reporting a 9.4 percent climb infirst-half profit.

"(The gains) are relatively short-term at the moment becausemarkets are looking forward to what’s going to happen next weekwith the U.S. Federal Reserve, and when you’re at stretchvaluations that’s probably a negative," said MathanSomasundaram, market portfolio strategist at Blue OceanEquities.

The U.S. central bank is expected to raise interest ratesfor the first time this year at the Federal Open MarketCommittee meeting next week.

Financial stocks capped the gains on the index, with theindex down for a fourth straight session amid agovernment backed inquiry into the sector.

The "Big Four" banks fell 0.5 and 0.9 percent. The hearingon Thursday revealed Commonwealth Bank of Australiaknew that a system of financial incentives to reward mortgagebrokers could hurt customers but failed to act.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index reversedearly losses to rise as much as 0.2 percent, and is set to endthe week up about 1.1 percent.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd was thebiggest contributor to the index, rising as much as 1.8 percent,while construction firm Fletcher Building Ltd climbed2.3 percent.(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru, additional reportingby Nikhil Nainan KurianEditing by Eric Meijer)