TOKYO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei held steady near a

six-month high on Monday as profit-taking in outperformers like

Toyota Motor Corp and mobile operator KDDI Corp offset the gains

in financials which were fuelled by recent strong quarterly

results.

The Nikkei ended flat at 15,164.30 after hitting a

six-month high of 15,273.61 earlier in the session.

The benchmark gained 7.7 percent last week, its best weekly

rise in four years. The index is up 46 percent so far this year,

spurred by Japan's massive fiscal and monetary stimulus.

KDDI dropped 2.3 percent, retreating from a

13-year-high reached on Friday and giving up some of last week's

13 percent rally, which was its best one-week rise in five

years.

Toyota eased 0.3 percent and electronic, ceramic

component maker Kyocera Corp lost 1.7 percent.

Industrial robot maker Fanuc Corp fell 0.5 percent.

They had all posted strong gains last week.

Banking shares were in demand, however, after banks recently

posted strong quarterly results and lifted their full-year

profit guidance. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained

1.8 percent.

The broader Topix index closed up 0.2 percent at

1,241.67, with 2.84 billion shares changing hands, down from

Friday's 3.21 billion but up from last week's daily average of

2.74 billion.