Nikkei edges down, futures buying helps offset nuclear woes

People are reflected on a stock quotation board displaying the Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo March 28, 2011.

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Nikkei share average edged down on Tuesday, coming back from a sharp loss in early trade as futures buying offset growing worries about Japan's crippled nuclear plant and the impact of the earthquake and tsunami on corporate earnings, but analysts said such buying may not be strong enough to improve sentiment in the longer term.

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 was down 0.2 percent, or 19.45 points, at 9,459.08 after hitting an intraday low of 9,317.38 in morning trade. The broader Topix .TOPX lost 0.9 percent to 850.21.

(Reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Joseph Radford)