* Nikkei below 50 pct retracement near 9,200
* Next support at 9,076, last November's low
* S&P futures, yen advance both weigh; exporters hit
* RSI at 31, slow stochastic points down
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, July 6 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei fell to a seven
month low on Tuesday, well below support at a key retracement
level and tumbling to within sight of another under pressure from
a stronger yen.
Market players said comments from ex-IMF chief economist
Kenneth Rogoff on the Bloomberg website that China's property
market is beginning a "collapse" that would hit banks was
contributing to the stronger yen, which hit shares of Japanese
exporters such as Canon Inc <7751.T>.
The benchmark Nikkei <> started trade below 9,200, a key
support around the level of a 50 percent retracement from its
March 2009 low to its April high, and quickly picked up speed,
heading to within sight of its next support -- 9,076, a low
touched last November.
"There's still some concern about Europe and now we also have
these comments from Rogoff, in which he used the word
'collapse'," said Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief equity marketing
officer at Tokai Tokyo Securities.
"As to whether the market falls still further or not, that
depends on currencies."
The benchmark later pared its losses as the yen fell back
slightly, shedding 85.00 points to 9,181.78, down 0.9 percent. It
had earlier dropped nearly 2 percent to 9,091.70, its lowest
since late November 2009.
The broader Topix <> slipped 0.6 percent to 832.08.
"There's a lot of uncertainty out there, the Chinese real
estate issue is just one," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager
at Chibagin Asset Management.
"The yen strengthened suddenly and exporters were sold. In
addition, we've seen some pretty strong selling of Nikkei
futures."
Market players said that with the settlement of Nikkei
options approaching on Friday, trade was likely to be volatile.
Market players said on Monday that there are a large number of
option triggers on Nikkei futures at 9,000 and 8,500, and that
the market remains gamma short -- meaning traders need to follow
market moves to hedge their books, often leading to volatile
moves.
In addition, the technical picture is hard to read.
The Nikkei's RSI now comes it at 32, with 30 and under
considered oversold, while its slow stochastic -- a measure of
how oversold the market is and whether it is in a short-term up
or down trend -- began pointing up again after a brief morning
dip.
But the Nikkei's MACD, a measure of market momentum,
continues to fall.
EXPORTERS PARE LOSSES
Exporters pared their losses as well after the yen fell back
slightly.
Tokyo Electron Ltd <8035.T> shed 2.5 percent to 4,610 yen and
Canon Inc <7751.T> lost 0.6 percent to 3,265 yen. Honda Motor Co
<7267.T> slipped 0.4 percent to 2,500 yen.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines <9104.T> and other shipping companies
fell after the Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index <.BADI>
fell to its lowest level in over nine months on Monday as weak
iron ore activity hurt sentiment. []
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines lost 1.6 percent to 562 yen, Nippon Yusen
<9101.T> fell 1.3 percent to 315 yen and Kawasaki Kisen <9107.T>
shed 1.7 percent to 349 yen. The shipping subindex <.ISHIP.T>
fell 1.5 percent.
ABC Mart Inc <2670.T> fell 2.7 percent to 3,280 yen after the
shoe retailer said its June same-store sales declined 1.5 percent
from a year earlier, the first drop in eight months, blaming bad
weather for keeping shoppers at home.
(Editing by Joseph Radford)
