* Nikkei briefly hits lowest point since Nov. 21
* Financial fear weighs on banks, but not panic situation
* Sony may announce restructuring details soon, report says
* Techs extend losses, but Elpida up on possible merger talks
(Adds stocks, details)
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average slipped 1.9
percent on Wednesday after earlier hitting a two-month low on
rekindled fear about the global financial sector that sent banks
such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group <8316.T> sliding.
Tech shares extended losses and exporters slipped as the
dollar remained below 90 yen, while Sony Corp <6758.T> fell 2.7
percent after a newspaper said it is preparing to announce on
Wednesday or Thursday details of its December restructuring plan,
including where job cuts will fall. []
But shares of Elpida Memory <6665.T> jumped over 5 percent
after the company said it was in talks with Taiwanese DRAM makers
including Powerchip <5346.TWO>, ProMOS Technologies <5387.TWO>
and Rexchip, on a possible merger as well as other options.
[]
"There's no question that worry about the financial system
has revived, but it's different from last year -- there's no
panic," said Takashi Ushio, head of the investment strategy
division at Marusan Securities.
"There's now a safety net in place and people are much more
determined to keep things from falling apart."
Disappointment with U.S. President Barack Obama's
inauguration speech, which laid out few new details on how his
administration will tackle the banking crisis and flagging
economy, helped push stocks lower.
"People still have expectations for his economic policies,
but we know nothing concrete about them, so the market has no
choice but to focus on the real economy and earnings," said
Yutaka Miura, chief technical analyst at Shinko Securities.
But other market players said hopes that helped power a
global stock rally around the New Year had been unrealistic.
"As for Obama, perhaps you can say his impact has worn off,
but soon he'll actually start carrying out his policies and we'll
start seeing a reaction to what he really does," said Nagayuki
Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei <> shed 155.94 points to 7,909.85
after earlier falling to 7,829.30, its lowest since Nov. 21. It
has so far lost 10.7 percent this year compared with a 42 percent
loss for all of 2008.
The broader Topix <> lost 1.9 percent to 789.80.
BANKS BATTERED, TECH TROUBLES
Banks were hit after Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> unveiled
the biggest loss in British corporate history on Monday, with
U.S. investors spooked further by State Street Corp <STT.N>, the
world's largest institutional money manager, reporting on Tuesday
a $6.3 billion unrealised loss on its investment portfolio and
lowering its outlook. []
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Japan's third-biggest bank,
shed 5.7 percent to 3,330 yen. Top bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
Group <8306.T> lost 3.8 percent to 483 yen and second-ranked
Mizuho Financial Group <8411.T> fell 2.2 percent to 223 yen.
The banking subindex <.IBNKS.T> lost 2.7 percent but was off
earlier lows.
Tech shares extended recent losses on falling demand amid the
poor global economy, with Kyocera Corp <6971.T> down 2.6 percent
at 5,940 yen and Advantest <6857.T> 2.8 percent lower at 1,184
yen after their U.S. peers fell on worry about earnings at IBM
<IBM.N>, though those were ultimately better than forecast.
Elpida, however, surged 5.6 percent to 563 yen.
"Things have been very tough for Elpida and similar
companies, so some kind of restructuring is necessary and it is
good for companies to synergise like this," said Yamagishi at
Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.
Sony fell 2.7 percent to 1,970 yen after the report that it
will fill out the details of plans announced last month that
called for curbing investment, exiting businesses and cutting
16,000 jobs. []
The dollar edged up 0.2 against the yen after slipping
overnight, trading around 89.97 yen <JPY=>, but the fact that it
remained below 90 yen sparked selling of exporters.
Canon Inc <7751.T> lost 1.6 percent to 2,740 yen and Honda
Motor Co <7267.T> fell 2.4 percent to 2,080 yen.
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, which on Tuesday said that the
founder's grandson, Akio Toyoda, would head the firm, lost 4.2
percent to 2,970 yen. []
Trade picked up on the Tokyo exchange's first section, with
932 million shares changing hands, compared with last week's
morning average of 899 million.
Declining stocks outpaced advancing ones by nearly 3 to 1.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
