* Trade thin before end of Fed meeting, support seen at 9,500
* Energy shares up after Tuesday oil rise
* Showa Shell Sekiyu surges on Saudi solar power business
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, June 24 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average edged
down 0.1 percent on Wednesday in thin trade on wariness before
the results of a Federal Reserve meeting, but energy shares such
as Inpex <1605.T> rose after crude oil surged the previous day.
Showa Shell Sekiyu <5002.T> climbed over 7 percent on its
plans to work with Saudi Aramco Oil Co on a feasibility study on
solar power business in Saudi Arabia. []
But market players said the Nikkei was treading water after
falling 2.8 percent the day before, with scattered
bargain-hunting unlikely to lift the average much in the face of
bearish technical signals and uncertainty ahead of the end of the
Fed meeting later on Wednesday.
"To say that investors globally are getting out of riskier
assets is probably an exaggeration, but there's no question that
people are taking profits and interest in riskier assets is
receding a bit," said Koichi Ogawa, chief fund manager at Daiwa
SB Investments.
"After the new quarter starts in July, people may be more
eager to take on those riskier assets again, but the situation is
very hard to read."
Investors are keenly awaiting the Fed's policy decision
statement and are nervous about anything that could hint at
interest rate hikes.
"The ideal result is for no change in policy and for the Fed
to merely say that they might think about interest rates again
later in the year, after the economy improves," said Tomomi
Yamashita, a fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management.
The benchmark Nikkei <> lost 5.52 points to 9,544.09,
while the broader Topix <> lost 0.2 percent to 899.63.
WILL SUPPORT HOLD?
While market analysts said they still expected support for
the Nikkei to hold at 9,500, bearish signals are showing up on
technical charts.
The Nikkei earlier this week fell below its 25-day moving
average. In addition, the 5-day moving average is nearly at the
25-day moving average and could cross below it soon, a move known
as the "Death Cross" and which is often a bearish signal.
A similar pattern appeared in late April, where an apparently
imminent Death Cross was avoided at the last moment and instead
signalled the bottom of a brief dip.
A break below 9,500 could set off a drop to 9,000, where the
200-day moving average currently comes in.
"Falling down this far would signal quite an adjustment, and
recovery could take some time," Ogawa added.
In a sign that profit-taking was gathering pace, shares such
as GS Yuasa <6674.T> which had surged last week, extended losses
sharply. Lithium-ion battery maker GS Yuasa lost 5.6 percent to
916 yen and Meidensha Corp <6508.T>, known for environmental
products such as water-treatment control systems, dropped 5.1
percent to 581 yen.
Seven & I Holdings <3382.T> fell 2.6 percent to 2,220 yen,
extending losses made on Tuesday after Japan's Fair Trade
Commission ordered its convenience store unit Seven-Eleven Japan
to stop pressuring franchise outlets not to cut the price of food
items nearing expiry dates. []
Energy shares pared gains as oil fell by over $1 but still
remained up, with Inpex rising 1 percent to 723,000 yen and
Nippon Oil <5001.T> gaining 2.4 percent to 550 yen.
Showa Shell Sekiyu shares surged 7.2 percent to 1,054
percent.
Trading houses clung to gains but were off earlier highs as
oil slid and copper eased after the previous day's bounce, with
Mitsubishi Corp <8058.T> climbing 1.3 percent to 1,736 yen and
Mitsui & Co <8031.T> up 0.8 percent to 1,120 yen.
Trade fell off, with 1 billion shares changing hands on the
Tokyo exchange's first section compared to last week's morning
average of 1.3 billion.
Declining shares outnumbered advancing shares by 803 to 739
on the Tokyo exchange's first section.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Joseph Radford)
