UPDATE 1-Japan investors pour $2.4 billion into mutual funds

* Investors buy $2.4 bln in funds, most for one day in 2009

* 13 of 14 new funds marketed by Nomura Securities

* U.S. junk bond funds attract $686 million (Adds details on semiconductors, other funds)

TOKYO, May 27 (Reuters) - Japanese retail investors poured $2.4 billion into mutual funds on Wednesday, investing in semiconductor firms, banks and U.S. junk bonds, in the biggest single-day of fund launches this year.

The influx of funds underscores a reviving appetite for risk among Japanese households, which hold some $15 trillion in assets and were burned along with other investors last year when financial markets crashed.

A total of 14 funds were launched on Wednesday, gathering about 233 billion yen ($2.4 billion) from retail investors, industry sources told Reuters.

That is nearly double the monthly average in 2008 of around 140 billion yen, according to Reuters' calculations.

Nomura Holdings (8604.T), Japan's top brokerage, marketed all except one of the funds, worth just 2 billion yen.

One Nomura Asset Management fund investing in global semiconductor firms attracted 87.6 billion yen -- the largest amount for a single fund offered this year.

Analysts say there have been signs that the decline in demand for semiconductors is slowing. The book-to-bill ratio for Japanese chip-manufacturing equipment makers rose for the first time in nine months in April, as orders grew for a second month. [ID:nT372199]

A separate fund launched by DIAM Co Ltd and marketed by Nomura that invests in financial sector shares mainly in North America, Europe and Japan drew 78.2 billion yen.

The big flow of Japanese retail investor money into funds investing in overseas shares and U.S. junk bonds may have added to selling pressure on the yen versus the dollar, currency dealers said.

The yen JPY= had eased to 95.40 a dollar as of 1000 GMT, from around 95.00 in late U.S. trade the previous day.

Another Nomura Asset fund targeting high-yielding U.S. corporate bonds and offered in 11 tranches drew 65.4 billion yen.

In January it launched a similar junk bond fund that attracted nearly 130 billion yen at the start. The fund then quadrupled in value, forcing Nomura Asset to suspend new subscriptions by mid-May to prevent any liquidity problems in the market. [ID:nT351729]

Nomura Asset's funds have been popular as investors' holdings can be in various currencies, enabling them to increase returns by hedging their currency exposure in high-yielding currencies such as the Brazilian real and the Turkish lira.

Investors can also choose their currencies in the new junk bond fund. (Reporting by Michiko Iwasaki and Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Hugh Lawson)