UPDATE 1-HNI sees Q1 loss

* Sees Q1 loss

* Sees Q1 net sales decline of 24-30 pct

Feb 18 (Reuters) - U.S. office furniture maker HNI Corp (HNI.N) forecast a loss for the first quarter on Wednesday, a day after it posted strong quarterly results, and said the economic outlook remained negative and uncertain.

The company said it would continue to reset its cost structure and would take restructuring charges of about $1.6 million in the first quarter.

According to Reuters Estimates, analysts were expecting a profit on 12 cents a share, excluding items, for the first quarter.

U.S. office furniture makers have been hit hard by weak demand, rising office vacancies and aggressive corporate downsizing over the last few months.

Volume declines persist and demand deterioration shows no signs of abating in the near term, analyst Christopher Agnew of Goldman Sachs said in a note dated Feb. 17.

The company's shares, which had risen as much as 17 percent earlier in the session, pared some of their gains to trade up 86 cents at $12.60 Wednesday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange.

For alerts, double-click [ID:nWNAB4013] (Reporting by Amulya Nagaraj in Bangalore; Editing by Amitha Rajan)