Nikkei off lows, gains support as BOJ gives details

* Nikkei off low as BOJ announces details of asset purchases

* BOJ to bring forward its next meeting to Nov.4-5

TOKYO Oct 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei was off its lows on Thursday, gaining some support after the Bank of Japan announced details of its asset buying scheme, but investors were reluctant to chase prices higher at the peak of the earnings season.

The Nikkei briefly turned positive, but it ran out of steam quickly as shares prices in other centres such as Shanghai have been put under pressure as investors shift away from risk assets on speculation that monetary easing in the United States will not be as pronounced as originally thought.

"One thing positive thing for the Nikkei was that we saw details about the BOJ's buying scheme. It's encouraging to see that the BOJ is taking action to implement the measures quickly," said Tomomi Yamashita, fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management.

By mid-afternoon trade, the benchmark Nikkei .N225 was down 0.2 percent at 9,373.18 after rising to a session high of 9,413.68 shortly after the BOJ announcement.

The Nikkei dropped to a session low of 9,350.44 in morning trade.

The broader Topix .TOPX fell 0.3 percent to 815.26.

The BOJ announced details of its asset buying scheme unveiled on Oct. 5, saying it would buy 1.5 trillion yen ($18.36 billion) in long-term government bonds and 2 trillion yen in short-term government securities. [ID:nTKG006926]

The central bank also said it would bring forward its next policy board meeting to Nov. 4-5 from Nov. 15-16 to make arrangements to start buying exchange-traded funds and J-REITs at an early date.

As widely expected, the BOJ decided to keep interest rates unchanged at a range of zero to 0.1 percent by a unanimous vote.

Traders were reluctant to take new positions in stocks before a highly anticipated U.S. Federal Reserve meeting on Nov. 2-3.

The dollar's recovery against the yen, which hit a two-week high of just below 82 yen JPY= the previous day, also supported the Nikkei, but underlying sentiment towards stocks was bearish.

"Investors are selling stocks to lighten their risks on speculation about the Fed. Global share prices have been under pressure and weighing on the Nikkei," said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

"Sentiment towards the Nikkei could deteriorate greatly if it falls below 9,300. This could bring in a lot technical selling," Hirano said. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi and Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Joseph Radford)