* Pause in gains inevitable as earnings priced in-anlayst
* Falls broad, but Uny up on Itochu's plan to take stake
TOKYO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average fell 1 percent on Thursday, with stocks hit across the board after a warning from a banking analyst prompted a sell-off in U.S. financial shares.
Amid caution ahead of the upcoming Japanese earnings season, exporters such as Kyocera Corp as well as banking stocks shed recent gains.
"The stock market is taking a breather. Earnings reports have been in line or above expectations, but the stock market has already factored that in and climbed to high levels," said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.
"We'll have to be careful that positive factors might not be reflected in stock moves 100 percent from now on."
The benchmark Nikkei slipped 106.78 points to 10,226.61. It hit a three-week closing high on Tuesday.
The broader Topix fell 1.3 percent to 901.83.
Japan's earnings season will swing into full gear next week.
U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as Wells Fargo slid after Rochdale Research analyst Richard Bove cut his rating on the stock saying loan losses were mounting, though it was among several banks posting quarterly earnings above Wall Street's forecasts.
Kyocera slipped 1.4 percent to 8,020 yen, while Advantest Corp fell 1.7 percent to 2,365 yen and Tokyo Electron Ltd shed 1.2 percent to 5,610 yen.
Banking stocks fell, with Japan's top lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group skidding 3.1 percent to 472 yen.
But retailer Uny gained 2.8 percent to 672 yen after the company said trading house Itochu is planning to take a stake in it as part of a business tie-up.
The Nikkei business daily said Itochu plans to spend about 4 billion yen to acquire 3 percent stake from the market. Uny said it plans a news conference later in the day. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)