* Nikkei slips on profit-taking after last week's 8-mth high
* Mitsubishi Motors climbs on electric car report
* Banks hit after U.S. peers drop on broad debt rating cut
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, June 18 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average fell 1.4 percent on Thursday, pulling away from last week's eight-month high, as banks such as Mizuho Financial Group tracked their U.S. peers lower, while exporters including Honda Motor Co dropped on a strong yen versus the dollar.
Investors booked profits due to uncertainty about the prospects for a further pickup in the economy, with Konica Minolta and Ricoh tumbling on a tough market outlook for their mainstay multi-function printers.
While its automaker rivals stumbled amid the broad retreat by exporters, Mitsubishi Motors Corp gained 3.3 percent to 187 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported that it aims to begin selling electric vehicles priced at around $31,150 in 2012 in an effort to counter cheaper electric-gasoline hybrid cars.
"It seems like a pull-back phase. People who want to take profits are starting to appear," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments.
The Nikkei ended the day down 137.13 points at 9,703.72.
The benchmark has pulled away from an eight-month closing high of 10,135.82 reached last Friday, but is still nearly 38 percent above a trough hit in early March.
The broader Topix fell 1.3 percent to 911.21.
Market participants said the Nikkei had been due for a fall after its three-month rally, but that rapid declines seemed unlikely at this stage.
"Support at the 25-day moving average of around 9,605 looks like it will hold for the time being, but that mostly depends on whether the yen's advance stops or continues," said Yutaka Miura, chief technical analyst at Mizuho Securities. SMELTERS DOWN, NITTETSU MINING DEFIES TREND
Smelters of non-ferrous metals slid along with resource-linked shares and exporters. Sumitomo Metal and Mining lost 2.5 percent to 1,435 yen and Mitsui Mining and Smelting fell 3.2 percent to 240 yen.
But losses were limited for mining company and copper smelter Nittetsu Mining Co, which edged down 0.7 percent to 424 yen after spending much of the day in positive territory after the Nikkei daily reported that it will invest up to 150 billion yen ($1.57 billion) to develop a copper mine in Chile, aiming to begin production in the spring of 2013.
Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd rose 0.8 percent to 1,572 yen after Japan's second-biggest developer told Reuters on Wednesday it is interested in buying a real estate investment trust (REIT) in Japan and is preparing to launch a property investment fund in the United States.
Banks were hit after their U.S. counterparts fell the previous day on a broad debt ratings downgrade from Standard & Poor's and uncertainty over the U.S. government's extensive proposals for banking-industry reform.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest bank, shed 2 percent to 592 yen and Mizuho Financial Group lost 4 percent to 241 yen. Resona Holdings dropped 2.7 percent to 1,348 yen.
The banking sector subindex fell 3.5 percent.
Konica Minolta tumbled 5.8 percent to 928 yen and Ricoh slid 5 percent to 1,206 yen, making them among the biggest percentage decliners in the Nikkei index.
Analysts at JP Morgan said in a note this week that conditions surrounding the multi-function printer and copier market were getting tougher in the wake of the global financial crisis.
The dollar stood at 95.78 yen after hitting a two-week low of 95.51 yen earlier this week.
That hurt exporters such as Honda, which fell 2.6 percent to 2,605 yen, while Canon was down 3.1 percent at 3,100 yen.
Trade was moderate, with 2.4 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo Exchange's first section compared with last week's daily average of 2.5 billion.
Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by 2 to 1.
(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Joseph Radford)