* Chip shares drag Nikkei lower, but 10,000 line solid
* Japan Tobacco jumps after Tribac Leaf purchase
* Largely directionless, awaiting U.S. indicators
TOKYO, June 15 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average edged down 0.5 percent on Monday, with chip shares such as Advantest Corp hurt by a disappointing outlook from U.S. chipmaker National Semiconductor.
But Japan Tobacco jumped nearly 4 percent after the world's third-largest cigarette maker said it would buy British company Tribac Leaf to secure a stable supply of tobacco leaf.
Market analysts said shares were taking a breather after closing above 10,000 on Friday for the first time in eight months, with investors focused on U.S. indicators due out later this week.
"A general feeling of the U.S. economic recession easing has helped bring us this far, but for now there's a sense of achievement at getting over 10,000, and this is likely to spark profit-taking," said Noritsugu Hirakawa, a strategist at Okasan Securities.
U.S. May housing starts, producer prices and industrial production are set to be released on Tuesday, with consumer prices coming out on Wednesday.
"Last week, the market gained on positive news such as Chinese industrial production figures, which make it hard to deny that the global economy is improving," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager of equities at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"There are a number of U.S. indicators due out later in the week, which the market will use to confirm trends. But today, there won't be a lot of direction."
The benchmark Nikkei shed 53.35 points to 10,082.47 after closing at 10,135.82 on Friday, its highest close since October 7. The broader Topix lost 0.1 percent to 949.29.
National Semiconductor on Friday posted quarterly results and gave an outlook that topped Wall Street's estimates, but the guidance fell short in comparison to an outlook from fellow chipmaker Texas Instruments earlier in the week.
National Semiconductor's shares fell 6.1 percent while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index lost 1.8 percent.
That hit tech shares here, with Advantest losing 2.8 percent to 1,798 yen and Kyocera Corp falling 1.7 percent to 7,450 yen. TDK Corp dropped 3.1 percent to 4,360 yen.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc fell 3.7 percent to 4,180 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported over the weekend that the planned share issue by Japan's third-largest bank is expected to raise more than 900 billion yen ($9.2 billion).
The share issue, which could reach close to 1 trillion yen, would be up from SMFG's April plan to raise up to 800 billion yen, the Nikkei said.
Reuters last month reported that SMFG's share issue could reach $9.1 billion. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)