* Megabanks, brokers fall on euro zone concerns * Sharp up 3 pct on high performance panel production * U.S. earnings likely to be catalyst for market rebound By Mari Saito TOKYO, April 16 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average fell 1.5 percent on Monday on renewed concerns about Europe's debt crisis, hitting major exporters with exposure to the region as well as big banks and brokers. The benchmark Nikkei lost 142.24 points to 9,495.75 after gains in the two previous sessions, while the broader Topix fell 1.2 percent to 805.98. Rising bond yields in Spain and a record-high cost of insuring the country's debt against default sparked fears of a flare-up in Europe's debt crisis on Friday. Big exporters to Europe came under pressure. TDK Corp fell 2.8 percent, Konica Minolta Holdings Inc was down 2.3 percent and Nikon Corp slipped 1.5 percent after the euro fell to an eight-week low against the yen, last trading at 105.35 yen on euro zone concerns in the early Asian trade. Bucking the trend, Sharp Corp climbed 3.1 percent after it said it had begun producing the world's first high performance liquid crystal display panels, which traders said could give it an edge over its South Korean and Taiwanese competitors in the mobile devices market. Eiji Kinouchi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities said the Wall Street earnings season could provide a catalyst for a rebound in Japan's equities this week. "Rather than high-performing technology shares, we should look at major U.S. defensives that have underperformed the market. If these companies, mostly retail and pharmaceuticals, post better-than-expected earnings this week I think you could see a larger market rebound in the U.S. and Japan," said Kinouchi. U.S. technology bellwether Intel Corp is due to post its results on Tuesday, followed by other marquee names such as American Express Co, General Electric Co, and McDonald's Corp. Japan's megabanks and brokers were heavily sold off, tracking the performance of their U.S. counterparts, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group down between 2 and 2.4 percent. Nomura Holdings was down 2 percent and Daiwa Securities Group dropped 1.9 percent. Among the top performers on the Topix core 30 list was Kansai Electric Power Co, up 0.8 percent, after Japan's government declared its two idled nuclear reactors safe to restart. All but one of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors are now off line, most of them for regular maintenance checks, as public concerns over nuclear safety in the wake of Fukushima's atomic disaster have kept them from restarting. U.S. stocks closed out their worst week this year on Friday, with financials, materials and energy shares down after disappointing Chinese growth data and concerns that Europe's debt crisis was flaring up again. The cost of insuring Spanish debt against default for five years closed above 500 basis points for the first time, according to provider Markit on Friday, amid fears about the high exposure of the country's banking sector to sovereign debt. Data on Friday also showed Spanish banks had borrowed a record 316.3 billion euros from the European Central Bank in March, and markets fear much of the funds have been placed in domestic sovereign debt.