Nikkei drifts lower as exporters sold; banks edge up

* Profit-taking in broad range of shares

* Eyes on earnings for JAL, major banks

* Psychological support for Nikkei near 9,500 - analyst

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 0.4 percent on Friday, weighed down by selling of exporters such as Sony Corp (6758.T) after concerns about consumer spending hit Wall Street and the yen strengthened slightly against the dollar.

Struggling Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T) as well as a slew of banks including No. 2 lender Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) and No. 3 bank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T) announce earnings results later in the day.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as a stronger dollar weighed on commodity-linked shares and a guarded outlook from Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) led to worries about consumer spending. [.N]

"The sense that economic recovery is taking a bit of a breather will weigh on the market," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, an equities analyst at Daiwa Securities SMBC.

"We need some very good economic indicators before the environment will really encourage buying of Japanese stocks."

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 lost 39.51 points to 9,764.98 after snapping a four-day rising streak on Thursday and looked headed for its lowest close in a week. The broader Topix was flat at 867.50.

Other analysts said that on top of selling by Japanese institutional investors, foreign investors appear to have shifted their stance slightly on Japanese stocks from neutral to selling.

"Earnings are mostly over and though many were strong, they were mainly factored in and didn't lead to buying, while the forecasts were fairly cautious," said Norihiro Fujito, general manager at the investment research department of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

"There's worry about bond issuance and growth here is really lagging, while the foreigners who were net buyers have shifted to sellers. There's a lot of funds going to places like China, India and Indonesia."

Foreign investors last week sold a net 9.9 billion yen ($110 million) of Japanese stocks, Ministry of Finance data showed on Thursday, after being net buyers the week before. [ID:nT367900]

Fujito said that one key psychological support level for the Nikkei is at 9,500, but that if this is broken the benchmark could quickly fall, perhaps taking aim at the July low of just over 9,000. The 200-day moving average comes in around 9,300.

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