Japan stocks slip before Fed, exporters hit

(Updates to midmorning)

TOKYO, April 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 0.4 percent on Wednesday, with Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other exporters dragged down as the yen crept up against the dollar and the market turned its eyes to a Federal Reserve Board meeting.

Japanese corporate earnings continued to take a toll, with poor forecasts hitting a wide range of firms including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (8316.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd (5713.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), both of which slid after issuing gloomy forecasts on Monday.

But others, such as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), surged after the Panasonic maker posted on Monday a 15 percent rise in quarterly operating profit thanks to brisk sales of flat TVs, and forecast a larger-than-expected gain this year, with its mobile phones and DVD recorders also selling well. [ID:nT361784]

"Basically, the biggest thing for the market right now is the Fed meeting," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities.

"There was a bit of selling after industrial production figures came out, but the market's basically shrugged those off. The Fed is far more important, especially whether they say that this is it for interest rate cuts."

Japan's industrial output fell 3.1 percent in March from a month earlier, well below a market median forecast of a 0.8 percent drop, government data released just before the opening showed.

Figures showed that manufacturers' output, the core component of production, is expected to fall 0.3 percent in April but increase 3.4 percent in May [ID:nTKF003130].

At 0044 GMT the Nikkei .N225 had shed 48.43 points to 13,845.94. The broader Topix was down 0.6 percent at 1,353.75.