* Profit-taking weighs on market after 3.4 pct jump
* Exporters slide after leading rally; trade thin
* Eyes on U.S. housing data, Japan's Aug. 30 election
By Aiko Hayashi
TOKYO, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average fell 0.8 percent on Tuesday as exporters such as Canon Inc took a breather after a rally the previous day, while investors focused on Japan's Aug. 30 general election and U.S. economic data.
Market analysts say many expect Japan's opposition Democratic Party to gain power but investors remain hesitant about actively taking positions before they see the results, though some say the election has already become a neutral trading factor.
"The market is facing profit-taking for now, but downward pressure isn't so strong either, as U.S. stocks didn't fall too much and the dollar/yen is still trading around 94.5 yen," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
"Investors are also paying attention to U.S. economic indicators, which have been mixed lately, to see if the economy is steadily improving."
The market will closely watch economic data out of the United States such as Case-Shiller home price indexes due later in the day for further clues about the progress of an economic recovery.
In thin trade, the benchmark Nikkei slipped 82.86 points to 10,498.19. It jumped 3.4 percent the previous day, erasing a decline posted last week.
The broader Topix retreated 0.5 percent to 965.25.
U.S. stocks ended the day barely changed on Monday as investors took a break from a four-day rally that lifted major indexes to 10-month highs.
In Japan, opinion polls show the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan ahead of the LDP. A solid win for the Democrats would raise the chance of clearing a policy deadlock in parliament, where the opposition controls the upper house.
"If the Democratic Party were to win, a landslide victory would be better. Otherwise, policies would lack a specific direction," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
"Once a change in the government becomes a reality, risks related to that change and the Democrats' ability to lead the country will be in focus."
EXPORTERS WEIGH
Canon, the world's largest digital camera maker, slipped 1.3 percent to 3,670 yen.
Sony Corp fell 1 percent to 2,495 yen and Tokyo Electron shed 2.1 percent to 5,150 yen. Honda Motor Co declined 1.3 percent to 3,010 yen.
Toyota Motor Corp dipped 0.5 percent to 4,050 yen. The Asahi newspaper reported on Tuesday the world's largest carmaker plans to raise its daily production level in Japan in November compared with a year earlier for the first time in 16 months, thanks to a recovery in demand.
But NGK Insulators, a producer of insulators for power utilities and high-energy density batteries, jumped 4.1 percent to 2,280 yen after the Nikkei business daily said it had received 60 billion yen in orders from Abu Dhabi for rechargeable batteries to use in power systems.
Some 867 million shares changed hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section, below last week's morning average of 972 million.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by 2 to 1. (Editing by Edwina Gibbs)