Credit: REUTERS/ISSEI KATOBy Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average edged lower on Thursday, as an early Wall Street-led bounce gave way to lingering concerns that trade conflicts and political risks would hurt the global economy.
The Nikkei .N225 ended the session down 0.09% at 20,460.93, having advanced a modest 0.15% the previous day. The index rose as much as 0.2% in early trade after all three of the major U.S. stock indexes posted gains overnight.
But the Nikkei's rise sputtered on underlying concerns about another flare-up in the U.S.-China trade war and latest developments in the Brexit saga pointing to fresh turbulence in the financial markets ahead.
"The market can't get much of a lift as it waits for Sept. 1 to see if extra U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports actually kick in," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
"U.S. trade adviser (Peter) Navarro's cautious comments on trade issues also weighed on sentiment," Miura said.
Global markets remain on edge after the latest flurry of tit-for-tat tariffs between Washington and Beijing, and the lack of firm details on the next round of trade talks between the two countries did little to ease nerves.
"I can tell you that it's unlikely anything quick will happen given the structural basis of the problems," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Wednesday.
There were 127 advancers on the Nikkei index against 87 decliners.
The largest percentage decliner was staffing services company Recruit Holdings Co 6098.T, which retreated 4.8% after it announced plans to sell approximately 7.16% of its outstanding shares through a secondary offering.
The biggest percentage gainers were Rakuten Inc 4755.T, up 2.4%, followed by Taisei Corp 1801.T for a gain of 2.3% and Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd 1332.T up by 2.2%.
Suzuki Motor Corp 7203.T rose 1.5%, helped by the carmaker announcing a capital tie-up with Toyota Motor Corp 7203.T.
Shares of Toyota, which will pay around 96 billion yen ($910.90 million) for a 4.94% stake in Suzuki, closed little changed on the day.
The broader Topix .TOPX inched down 0.01% to 1,490.17.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 0.77 billion, compared to the average of 1.11 billion yen in the past 30 days.
($1 = 105.3900 yen)
(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
((shinichi.saoshiro@thomsonreuters.com;))
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