TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average edged down in choppy trade on Thursday as investors turned cautious ahead of U.S. jobs data on Friday that could offer fresh clues on when the Federal Reserve will start scaling back its bond buying programme.
Worries over political turmoil in Egypt and Portugal also dampened sentiment.
The benchmark Nikkei slipped 0.3 percent to 14,018.93 on Thursday after moving in and out positive territory. The broader Topix dropped 0.3 percent to 1,170.71 in thin trade, with only 2.4 billion shares changing hands, marking the second lowest volume this year.
(Reporting by Tomo Uetake; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)