Japan's Nikkei snaps five-day winning run on Micron earnings caution

By Junko Fujita

TOKYO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share gauge snapped a five-day winning streak on Monday, as Nasdaq futures weakened ahead of US memory maker Micron Technology's MU.O earnings report later in the week.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 .N225 slid 0.73% to close at 65,877.62 after rising about 4.5% over the previous five. The broader Topix .TOPX slipped 0.40% to 4,112.00.

Investors sold stocks as they saw Nasdaq futures weakening in Asian hours ahead of Micron's quarterly results due on Wednesday, said Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management.

Market players also sold stocks to rebalance their positions at the end of the first half of the year, he added.

"The US semiconductor index .SOX has been trading within a box range since June 20. The range is rather wide, and it will trade within the box in the next three to four months," said Ikeda, adding that the Nikkei will also mirror the move.

On Friday, the SOX index rose 1.4%, supported by AI stocks. .N

Earlier in the session, the Nikkei rose as much as 1% to 67,034.74, its highest level since mid-August.

"The 67,000 mark is being viewed as a key resistance level," said Maki Sawada, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities.

Breadth was negative, with 53 advancers on the Nikkei 225 against 171 decliners and one unchanged.

The largest losers were Socionext 6526.T, down 5.15%, followed by Ibiden 4062.T, 4.43% lower, and chipmaker Kioxia Holdings 285A.T, which lost 4.37%.

The largest gainers in the index were Ebara 6361.T, up 2.82%, followed by Mizuho Financial Group 8411.T, 2.01% higher, and marking its highest close since June 2007, and Dai-Ichi Life Holdings 8750.T, which gained 1.91%.