*Nikkei slips 1.4 percent, exporters and high-techs weigh
*Trade thin with U.S. market on holiday
*Nintendo, Citizen buck trend with robust gains
(Adds stocks, details)
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average
slipped 1.4 percent on Monday, dragged down by Canon Inc <7751.T>
and other exporters sold on a slightly stronger yen, though
losses were stemmed by bargain hunting.
Additional downward impetus came from high-tech shares
including TDK Corp <6762.T> after their U.S. peers tumbled on a
warning that manufacturers around the world were cutting back on
technology spending in the face of an economic chill.
But bucking the trend, Nintendo Co <7974.OS> made a robust
gains for a second straight session after lifting its profit
outlook while Citizen Holdings Co Ltd <7762.T> surged after
saying it would buy back up to 9.5 percent of its outstanding
shares.
Market players said the Nikkei had been primed for selling
after a week that saw it gain 3.2 percent, even though it was
down for the month of August.
"While it's true that the Nikkei is tracking Wall Street and
exporters are down a bit, we're also seeing a fairly natural
correction after the rises we had last week," said Yutaka Miura,
senior technical analyst at Shinko Securities.
U.S. shares tumbled on Friday after computer maker Dell
<DELL.O> sparked fears of weakness in the tech sector when it
warned of lower tech spending worldwide, sending the Philadelphia
Semi-conductor Index <.SOXX> down 2.8 percent.
But other market players said that with light trade
signalling an absence of investors, the market was responding
more sluggishly than it should to a number of potential factors.
"The government economic package issued last week, though not
a factor that would affect the overall market, should have
provoked a positive response in some sectors, but we're seeing
almost no lift from it at all," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of
dealing at Jujiya securities.
Japan unveiled plans on Friday to spend about $16.5 billion
extra this year to ease the pain of rising oil and food prices
for businesses and consumers, but the package looked unlikely to
help avert a recession or restore the government's sagging
ratings.
The benchmark Nikkei <> shed 176.00 points to 12,896.87.
The broader Topix <> was down 1.5 percent to 1,235.89.
EXPORTERS, TECH
The dollar was fetching around 108.31 yen at 0211 GMT <JPY=>,
edging down from Friday New York levels, and this was pressuring
exporters, although selling was unlikely to pick up in earnest
unless the dollar slipped below 108 yen, Jujiya's Okamoto said.
Canon was down 2.4 percent to 4,830 percent and Honda Motor
Co <7267.T> dropped 3.4 percent to 3,460 yen. Toyota Motor Co
<7203.T> lost 2 percent to 4,830 yen.
TDK gave up 2.3 percent to 6,250 yen and Kyocera Corp
<6971.T> was down 2 percent at 9,050 yen. Tokyo Electron Ltd
<8035.T> was down 2.7 percent to 6,070 yen.
But not all the news was grim.
Nintendo jumped 4.6 percent to 54,200 yen, and has risen some
12 percent since lifting its profit outlook on Friday on robust
demand for its Wii game console.
Citizen Holdings jumped 10.4 percent to 838 yen after the
watchmaker said it would spend up to 20 billion yen to buy back
up to 9.5 percent of its shares from the market by March 31 to
improve its per-share returns.
Citizen also raised its group net profit forecast for the
year to March by 14 percent to 14.8 billion yen to account for
special gains on the sale of shares in Star Micronics Co Ltd
<7718.T>.
Trade was extremely thin, with only some 644 million shares
changing hands on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange,
compared to last week's morning average of 676 million.
Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by more than 5 to
1.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
