Nikkei slips as techs, exporters sold; banks gain

TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.3 percent on Friday and looked set for a fourth week of losses after techs and exporters slipped, with techs hit by a poor outlook for U.S. peers as well as fears about the strength of the economic recovery. Shares of Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) fell to their lowest in nearly four months after the electronics maker unveiled a new growth strategy that failed to reassure investors, before recovering slightly. [ID:nT265644] But losses were partially offset by gains in banking shares on short-covering after the sector was battered recently by concerns about fundraising after top lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T: Quote, Profile, Research) announced a massive share sale this week.

"It's possible that Japan may have anticipated Wall Street's fall a bit with the Nikkei losses on Thursday, but there are plenty of Japan-specific selling factors right now too, such as concerns about a rush of fundraising," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, an analyst at Daiwa Securities SMBC. [ID:nT141402]

In active trade, the benchmark Nikkei .N225 fell 119.88 points to 9,429.59, though market players said the 200-day moving average at around 9,350 was still holding as support.

The broader Topix .TOPX lost 0.9 percent to 830.51.

Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T: Quote, Profile, Research) slipped 3.1 percent to 95 yen after a newspaper said it may have to pay about $1.1 billion to settle derivatives transactions, but the struggling carrier said it did not expect to face such charges. [ID:nT294279] (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Joseph Radford)