Nikkei slips as banks sold ahead of earnings

TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) The Nikkei share average dropped to its lowest in a week on Monday, slipping 0.9 percent as technology stocks followed their U.S. counterparts lower and investors sold Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and other major banks ahead of their earnings results.

Shares of INPEX Holdings Inc. and other resource firms extended losses on lower crude oil prices.

Weaker U.S. techs weighed on similar shares in Japan, said Tatsuyuki Kawasaki, director of equities trading at Kaneyama Securities.

''Wall Street's advance looks like it might be about to stall,'' Kawasaki said. ''I think investors are getting ready to shift their funds into oil and gold.'' Oil and gold appeared to be undervalued compared to U.S. stocks after the Dow Jones industrial average hit another record high on Friday, he said.

''Investors are also appearing to take a wait-and-see attitude ahead of earnings from Japan's large banks.'' The Nikkei slipped 139.69 points to 15,952.04 as of 0056 GMT, after earlier hitting its lowest since Nov. 13.

The broader TOPIX was down 1.21 percent at 1,554.51.

Advantest Corp., a manufacturer of chip-testing gear, fell 1.6 percent to 6,020 yen.

Shares of Shin-Etsu Chemical, the world's largest maker of silicon wafers, slid 1.3 percent to 7,410 yen after the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.13 percent to 2,445.86.

Mitsubishi UFJ, the world's largest bank by assets, fell 1.4 percent to 1.4 million yen, while second-ranked Mizuho Financial Group Inc. dropped 3.1 percent to 823,000 yen.

Both lenders are due to report their earnings later in the data.

Oil and gas developer INPEX Holdings fell 3 percent to 906,000 yen, adding to a 3.5 percent fall in the previous session.

Crude oil futures were at .46 a barrel in early Asian trade on Monday after falling to a 17-month low of .86 last week.

REUTERS DKS PM0711