Japan's Nikkei inches down, trading muted before Wall Street holiday

TOKYO, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average inched down on Wednesday as investors avoided active bets with Wall Street closed for the Christmas holiday.

The Nikkei .N225 was down 0.12% at 38,990.56 by the midday break, after rising as much as 0.37% after the open.

"The market struggled to find direction with foreign investors away for the holiday season," said Fumio Matsumoto, chief strategist at Okasan Securities.

"This time of the year, local individuals were the only ones active in trading but they do not want to place active bets when large stocks do not move actively with the absence of foreign investors."

Entertainment company Konami 9766.T fell 1.74% to drag the Nikkei the most. Drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo 4568.T lost 1.41% and phone company KDDI 9433.T slipped 0.59%.

The broader Topix .TOPX fell 0.62% to 2,710.25, dragged lower by Toyota Motor's 7203.T 0.88% fall. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 8306.T lost 0.91%.

Honda Motor 7267.T slipped 0.77% after surging 12.2% in the previous session following the announcement of a share buyback on Monday.

Local firms' share buybacks have supported Japanese equities, but the buying is paused at the end of the year, which is also weighing on the Nikkei, said Okasan's Matsumoto.

Nissan Motor 7201.T erased early losses to surge 8.6% to become the top percentage gainer on the Nikkei.

Heavy machinery maker Kawasaki Heavy Industries 7012.T jumped 4.78%.

All but two of the 33 industry sub-indexes of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) fell.

Steelmakers .ISTEl.T rose 0.36% and energy explorers .IMING.T inched up 0.6%.

Of more than 1,600 stocks trading on the TSE's prime market, 19% rose and 77% fell, with 3% trading flat.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by William Mallard)

((junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com;))