* Nikkei dips below 25-day moving average.
* Retail stocks tumble after Seven & I Q1 profit decline
* Drop limited compared to fall in U.S. shares
* Trading volume light
By Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO, July 3 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1
percent on Friday after bleak U.S. jobs data revived caution
about the outlook for the global economy, while retail stocks
tumbled after Seven & I Holdings <3382.T> reported a drop in
quarterly profit.
Shares of oil and gas field developer Inpex <1605.T> and
other oil-related shares dropped after crude oil prices fell
nearly 4 percent on Thursday.
Drugmaker Eisai Co Ltd <4523.T> fell after Nikko Citigroup
downgraded the stock, citing the fact that the company's Aricept
Alzheimer's drug will not receive approval from the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration for pediatric use and will not get a
six-month extension from the patent expiry date.
Tokyo shares fell after U.S. stocks slid the previous day but
trade was thin, with 942 million shares traded on the Tokyo
exchange's first section compared with last week's morning
average of 1 billion.
The Nikkei's fall was limited compared with Thursday's 2.9
percent drop in the Standard & Poor's 500 index <.SPX>, which
came in light trade ahead of a long weekend in the United States.
The holiday-shortened week likely helped to exaggerated the
drop in U.S. shares and that may be a factor behind the
divergence, said Nagayuki Yamagishi, investment strategist at
Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.
"Since they had been rising recently, you would usually
expect buying to emerge on dips. But with the weekend looming,
people may have decided to wait to see what happens in Japan and
Europe," Yamagishi said, referring to U.S. shares.
"If people look at the moves in Tokyo shares and were to take
the view that they held pretty firm, the moves might reverse at
the start of next week," he added.
U.S. financial markets will be closed on Friday for the U.S.
Independence Day holiday, with July 4th falling on a Saturday
this year.
The Nikkei <> was down 101.32 points at 9,774.83 at
midday, having slipped below the 25-day moving average, which now
lies at 9,816.
The 25-day moving average has acted as support for the Nikkei
over the course of its rally since March.
The broader Topix <> dropped 0.8 percent to 916.51.
Declining shares outnumbered advancing shares by more than 3
to 1 on the Tokyo exchange's first section.
The U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday that U.S.
employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, 100,000 more than Wall Street
economists had expected. The unemployment rate hit 9.5 percent,
the highest in nearly 26 years. []
With the Nikkei having climbed nearly 40 percent from its
troughs hit in March, market analysts have said Tokyo shares were
due for a pull-back, with corporate earnings due this month seen
as key for the market's direction.
"It is hard to be optimistic about the outlook," said Yutaka
Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
"The economy has been improving after deteriorating sharply
toward March, but we now need to watch whether this will be
sustainable," Miura said, adding that the Nikkei may face some
weakness in the near-term after dipping below its 25-day moving
average.
But Yamagishi at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities said the Nikkei
seems unlikely to fall too sharply, since the 25-day moving
average was still sloped upwards, a positive sign for the Nikkei.
Seven & I, Japan's largest retailer, slid 6.3 percent to
2,160 yen after it kicked off the current earnings season with a
17.5 percent drop in first-quarter profit as cost-cutting failed
to offset sharp sales declines at its department stores and
supermarkets. []
Other retail stocks suffered, with Aeon <8267.T> dropping 3.7
percent to 901 yen. Fast Retailing <9983.T>, operator of the
Uniqlo clothing chain, fell 2.9 percent to 12,050 yen despite
reporting a 6.4 percent rise in its Japan same-store sales for
June.
Inpex fell 2.8 percent to 726,000 yen and Eisai Co Ltd fell 4
percent to 3,330 yen.
(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chris
Gallagher)
