* Investors look to Japan earnings season amid trade worries
* Asahi Group Holdings down after AB InBev deal
* Semi-conductor shares extend gains
By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, July 22 (Reuters) - Japanese shares dipped on Monday
as hopes for a large U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut faded and
investors took a cautious stance ahead of the domestic earnings
seasons, which starts this week.
The Nikkei share average .N225 fell 0.23% to 21,416.79
while the broader Topix .TOPX shed 0.49% to 1,556.37, with low
turnover of 1.63 trillion yen, about 30% below the annual
average.
On Friday, U.S. stocks fell following a Wall Street Journal
report that the Federal Reserve plans to cut interest rates by
only a quarter-percentage point at the end of the month.
On the whole, trading was light with many investors awaiting
earnings for clues on the market, which has moved in a narrow
range in the past few months on uncertainties over Sino-U.S.
trade war.
"Although the U.S. and China have struck a truce on trade,
the reality is that there was a tariff hike in June," said
Masahiro Ayukai, senior strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan
Stanley Securities.
"Japan and South Korea have spats while the world's economy
is slowing down. Investors are looking to what kind of guidance
companies will provide under such circumstances," he said.
Quarterly earnings reports by Japanese companies will be in
full swing later this week, with Canon 7751.T and Nidec
6594.T announcing results after the market close on Wednesday.
The market showed no reaction to Sunday's Japanese upper
house election, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc
won a solid majority. The biggest movers of the day included Asahi Group Holdings
2502.T , which fell 8.9% after the beverage firm said it would
buy the Australian operations of Anheuser-Busch InBev ABI.BR
and issue up to 200 billion yen ($1.9 billion) of shares to fund
it.
Bucking the broader decline, chip-related stocks extended
their gains following upbeat earning guidance from Taiwan's TSMC
2330.TW last week. Taiyo Yuden Co Ltd 6976.T rose 3.3%, while Advantest Corp
6857.T rose 1.9%, and Screen Holdings 7735.T rose 2.7%.
Sanoh Industrial 6584.T gained 8.4% in heavy trade, having
risen 30% since Thursday, when the company announced it
developed a battery cell that can directly convert heat into
electricity.
(Editing by Richard Borsuk and Sam Holmes)