Japan stocks dragged lower by real estate

(Updates to midmorning)

TOKYO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks slid on Thursday despite a Wall Street rally, with real estate shares such as Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd (8802.T: Quote, Profile, Research) weighing on the market amid a dearth of active trading factors. U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as investors shifted into defensive shares, especially drugmakers, and bargain-hunting picked up pace, but market players said Tokyo shares had risen on Wednesday in anticipation of such gains and had little energy to rise again.

"There are still a lot of questions out there about what the economy will do and whether the United States is headed for a recession or not, so it's hard to buy actively," said Takashi Ushio, head of investment strategy at Marusan Securities.

"The market is also waiting for the earnings results of large U.S. banks, which will be coming out next week."

At 0121 GMT, the benchmark Nikkei .N225 was down by 0.63 percent at 14,506.76, a loss of 92.40 points. The broader TOPIX <.TOPX) was down 0.81 percent at 1,412.81.

Real estate firms slipped, dragging the market lower, which Ushio attributed mainly to selling after rises on Wednesday. But others said the market would be watching for figures on occupancy rates and similar data due out later in the day.

Sumitomo Realty & Development (8830.T: Quote, Profile, Research), a major real estate developer, had slipped by 5 percent to 2,490 yen, and Mitsubishi Estate was down by 3.5 percent at 2,380 yen. Other realtors also fared poorly.

But a number of high-tech firms made their first gains in days, led by a jump in Tokyo Electron (8035.T: Quote, Profile, Research) after the firm said orders for its chip- and flat panel display-making equipment rose 55 percent in October-December from the prior quarter to 198 billion yen thanks to recovering capital spending by panel makers. [ID:nT252766]

Tokyo Electron surged 6.6 percent to 6,470 yen and chip tester maker Advantest Corp (6857.T: Quote, Profile, Research) gained 3 percent to 2,880 yen.

Defensive buying continued as well, with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (4502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) up 1.9 percent at 6,600 yen. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Hugh Lawson)