Japan’s Nikkei share average inched down on Wednesday as investors avoided active bets with Wall Street closed for the Christmas holiday.

The Nikkei was down 0.12 per cent at 38,990.56 by the midday break, after rising as much as 0.37 per cent 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 fell 1.74 per cent to drag the Nikkei the most. Drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo lost 1.41 per cent and phone company KDDI slipped 0.59 per cent.

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The broader Topix fell 0.62 per cent to 2,710.25, dragged lower by Toyota Motor’s 0.88 per cent fall. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group lost 0.91 per cent.

Honda Motor slipped 0.77 per cent after surging 12.2 per cent 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 erased early losses to surge 8.6 per cent to become the top percentage gainer on the Nikkei.

Heavy machinery maker Kawasaki Heavy Industries jumped 4.78 per cent

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

Steelmakers rose 0.36 per cent and energy explorers inched up 0.6 per cent.

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