* Nikkei softens on concerns about overheating
* Advantest, high-tech shares take a breather after rally
* Banking shares gain, seen as laggards
* Nikkei up 11.5 pct, tech subindex up 15 pct in 9-day rally
* Banking subindex up 5.6 pct in the same period
By Aiko Hayashi
TOKYO, July 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average inched down 0.3 percent on Tuesday after nine straight days of gains, as stocks that had led the strong run-up such as Advantest Corp fell amid concern about the rapid pace of the rally.
But investors picked up banking shares that many see as having lagged the market's advance, with top bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rising.
Market players said profit-taking had set in after the benchmark Nikkei climbed 11.5 percent during the nine-day run, its longest since 1988.
Investor reluctance to aggressively take positions ahead of a slew of earnings announcements was also holding the Nikkei in check, they said.
"High-tech shares that had already rallied are pausing for now, and clues to further gains in the overall market will depend on the degree to which investors snap up laggard banking shares," said Takahiko Murai, general manager of equities at Nozomi Securities.
The electronic machinery subindex has advanced about 15 percent during the period, compared with a 5.6 percent gain in the banking subindex.
"If banks go up much higher we can expect another round of gains for the Topix index. As for tech stocks, however, the sustainability of their earnings prospects is questionable as demand has improved but not enough to push them back into the black."
In light trade, the benchmark Nikkei fell 25.78 points to 10,062.88. It rose 1.5 percent the previous day to post its highest close since June 12.
The broader Topix was flat at 927.76.
Japan's corporate earnings season gets into full gear this week and Canon Inc, Hitachi Ltd and JFE Holdings Inc are among companies scheduled to report results later in the day.
"U.S. earnings generally beat market expectations and that has prompted the market rally," said Yumi Nishimura, deputy general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"But once the earnings season in the U.S. and Japan is over, investors will likely lack factors to further push up the market."
TECHS DOWN, BANKS GAIN
Shares of chip-tester maker Advantest shed 2.6 percent to 1,908 yen and Tokyo Electron Ltd fell 1.9 percent to 4,660 yen. Electronics components maker TDK Corp slipped 1.4 percent to 4,960 yen.
Banking shares gained. Mitsubishi UFJ added 1.1 percent to 559 yen, while No.2 Mizuho Financial Group climbed 1.9 percent to 215 yen.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, the third-largest bank, advanced 3.9 percent to 3,990 yen.
Stocks of companies with solid earnings continued to attract demand.
Sapporo Holdings shot up 4.6 percent to 595 yen after the beer maker raised its operating forecast to a 1.3 billion yen ($13.7 million) profit for the six months ended in June, a sharp reversal from its previous estimate of a 2 billion yen loss, due to cost-cutting.
JFE climbed 3.3 percent to 3,420 yen after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the world's No.5 steelmaker to "buy" from "sell", citing rising spot steel prices in the Asia region.
Some 866 million shares changed hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section, below last week's morning average of 1 billion.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by 2 to 1. (Editing by Edwina Gibbs)