Nikkei slips 0.2 pct; banks, resource shares fall

Japan's Nikkei average edged lower on Friday, as the announcement of stricter capital rules led Mizuho Financial and other banks to give back some of this week's hefty gains while metal stocks fell as the dollar's strength hit gold prices.

Banks shares had surged this week as fears of imminent large-scale equity financing eased after sources said that global regulators would stick to plans to gradually implement capital rule changes starting in 2012 but would give banks a transition period to help them adjust to the rules.

But the announcement from the Basel committee of bank regulators was not completely reassuring.

The committee wants the changes to take effect by the end of 2012, but they may be postponed if the global economy is still struggling at the time, the committee's secretary general Stefan Walter told Reuters.

"The announcement didn't help ease strong concerns about a flood of new bank share issues," said Toshiyuki Kanayama, market analyst at Monex Inc. "Worries about stock issuance is still keeping the market under pressure."

The benchmark Nikkei inched down 21.75 points to 10,142.05 after falling to just above the 10,000 mark.

The broader Topix slid 0.3 percent to 893.59.

Also on Friday, the Bank of Japan said it would not tolerate deflation and promised to keep policy very easy.

The BOJ's decision helped the market to come off the day's lows as analysts said the central bank may be setting the scene for a further easing of monetary policy to fight deflation.