Recasts with decline in Nikkei, updates prices.
By Junko Fujita and Rocky Swift
TOKYO, March 17 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average erased early gains to close down on Tuesday, dragged lower by losses in chip-related shares and a jump in oil prices.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index .N225 fell 0.1% to close at 53,700.39, extending its decline to a fourth-straight day. The broader Topix .TOPX climbed 0.45% to 3,627.07.
The Nikkei jumped as much as 1.2% earlier in the session as a slide in oil prices overnight prompted a recovery in investor sentiment that has been battered by the ongoing Iran war. But crude prices shot back up in Asian trading, and technology shares remained weak following a presentation by artificial intelligence bellwether Nvidia.
"Investors sold chip-related stocks because there was no big positive surprise from the remarks from Nvidia overnight," said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities. "The Nikkei moves inversely to oil prices these days."
Nvidia NVDA.O ended 1.6% higher after CEO Jensen Huang announced new components at the chipmaker's annual developer conference.
Advantest 6857.T, a chip-testing equipment maker and supplier to Nvidia, fell 2.5% to weigh the most on the Nikkei. Technology investor SoftBank Group 9984.T lost 1.8%.
There were 166 advancers on the Nikkei index against 56 decliners. The largest percentage gainers were shipping company Kawasaki Kisen 9107.T, up 6.3%, followed by drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo 4568.T, which rose 5.9%.
The largest losers were suppliers to the tech sector, including Furukawa Electric 5801.T, down 6.7%, followed by Sumitomo Electric Industries 5802.T, down 6.2% and Lasertec 6920.T, which sank 5.2%.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita and Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
((junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com;))
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