Japan's Nikkei slides as U.S. worries weigh

(Updates to midafternoon)

TOKYO, July 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average edged down 0.4 percent on Friday, heading for its sixth straight week of falls, with Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other financials paring gains as investors grew nervous about key U.S. results later in the day.

Caution following disappointing U.S. earnings out after the bell ultimately outweighed the boost following JPMorgan's (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) announcement that its earnings had not fallen as much as expected, prompting investors to sell ahead of a three-day weekend.

"Investors are closing their positions early ahead of the long weekend and Citigroup's results later today, with people getting edgy given that a lot of late results in the U.S. were poor," said Seiichi Miura, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

"Longer-term, people are concerned by the fact that even though U.S. authorities have talked a lot about support for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, there doesn't seem to be as much positive impact as the market would like," he said.

Market players also noted that the Tokyo market overall lacked the energy that led to a frenzy of buying-back and propelled Wall Street higher.

U.S. stocks soared on Thursday on a sharp drop in oil prices and several unexpectedly strong earnings reports.

But after the close, Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a much larger-than-expected $4.89 billion quarterly loss on soured holdings of mortgages and other risky debt, and unveiled plans to sell billions of dollars of assets to shore up capital. [ID:nN17199614]

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 shed 45.10 points to 12,842.85, on track for its sixth straight week of falls. The broader Topix was down 0.4 percent at 1,258.33.  Continued...