Nikkei edges lower, ANA and Orix tumble on share news

* Tankan impact limited, not seen as buying factor

* ANA, Orix tumble on news of possible share offers

TOKYO, July 1 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average edged down 0.2 percent on Wednesday, with Orix Corp (8591.T) and All Nippon Airways (9202.T) sliding on news of possible public share offerings. Confidence among big manufacturers pulled back from a record low hit three months ago, the Bank of Japan's tankan corporate survey showed, as exports and output improved from a severe downturn late last year. [JPBCLG=ECI]

But figures showing big firms plan to cut capital spending, a key driver of the economy, by 9.4 percent in the financial year to March 2010 -- against the market's median forecast for a 6.9 percent fall -- appeared to be weighing on investor sentiment, market analysts said.

"What the stock market was watching was capital spending, and this was not particularly good," said Tomomi Yamashita.

"This is not a buying factor."

Despite this, there was little sense of a rush to sell, he added, with an array of defensive shares edging up and buoying the Nikkei overall.

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 lost 18.74 points to 9,942.28 while the broader Topix fell 0.2 percent to 928.07.

All Nippon Airways Co, Japan's second-largest airline, plans to raise more than 150 billion yen ($1.6 billion) in a public share offering, five sources familiar with the matter said. [ID:nT105398]

The share offering, its first in more than three years, will be used to shore up its finances following a sharp downturn in its core business and for new investment ahead of the expansion of the Tokyo's Haneda airport, the sources said.

Orix, Japan's biggest leasing firm and a major property investor, plans to raise about 100 billion yen ($1 billion) through a public share offering, three people familiar with the matter said. [ID:nT112949]

Orix would become the latest in a series of Japanese financial firms to tap recently more buoyant equity markets for funds, amid signs the economy and property market to which it is heavily exposed may have bottomed out.

Orix lost 5.2 percent to 5,510 yen and ANA fell 5.6 percent to 318 yen. ANA's rival Japan Airlines (9205.T) lost 1.1 percent to 182 yen.

Trading houses edged down after oil prices tumbled on Tuesday, with Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) down 1 percent at 1,771 and Mitsui & Co (8031.T) down 1.5 percent.

But falls were countered by an array of defensive shares including pharmaceutical companies.

Astellas Pharma Inc (4503.T) rose 0.9 percent to 3,450 yen after saying it had submitted test data on its No.2 drug Flomax to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

If the data meets FDA requirements, Astellas will be able to extend its exclusive sales rights on Flomax, a drug for prostate problems, in the United States until April next year. It is due to lose patent protection in October. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Michael Watson)