* Riots in Egypt cause investors to flee stocks
* Commodity stocks rise as risk money shifts to gold, crude
* Strong yen knocks exporters, futures-led selling hits mkt
* Nikkei down 1.6 pct, broader Topix drops 1.5 pct
By Ayai Tomisawa
TOKYO, Jan 31 (Reuters) -Japan's Nikkei fell 1.6 percent on Monday, hit by a sharp drop in Wall Street on Friday as anti-government rioting in Egypt prompted investors to flee to less risky assets to ride out the turmoil.
Riots in the Middle East could trigger a sell off at a time when many expected a correction after a market rally of about 13 percent since November, analysts said, adding that such concerns are likely to offset firm earnings from Japan's corporate sector.
"As you can see in pre-market foreign sell orders in the past few days, there have been changes in foreign sentiment towards Japanese stocks," said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management.
Over the past three sessions, foreign investors have placed net sell orders before the market opened.
In Wall Street, stocks suffered their biggest one-day loss in nearly six months on Friday in active trade.
"Investors are shifting from stocks to safe haven assets, therefore commodity stocks may continue to outperform depending on the situation in the Middle East," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at Nikko Cordial Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei lost 167.00 points to 10,193.34. It is expected to trade in a range of 10,150-10,300, analysts said.
The broader Topix shed 1.5 percent to 906.12.
The euro fell as low as $1.3577 in early Asia-Pacific trade, from a New York close of $1.3608 on Friday, before steadying around $1.3600. The dollar eased a touch further to 82.00 yen, compared to 82.13 late in New York Friday.
Analysts said that futures selling could have a large impact on the cash market amid the strong yen environment.
Exporters were hit by the strong yen, with Toshiba Corp falling 4.2 percent to 480 yen and Canon Inc dropping 2.2 percent to 3,975 yen.
Fujitsu Ltd plunged 8.3 percent to 500 yen after Japan's largest IT vendor slashed its full-year operating profit forecast by more than a fifth as persistent weak demand for its data centres and other services defied expectations for a rebound.
Fujitsu also said its October-December operating profit dropped to 21.3 billion yen, down 37 percent from a year earlier and below a consensus estimate for a 27 billion yen profit in a poll of four analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Commodity-linked stocks outperformed the market, with Inpex gaining 2.5 percent to 536,000 yen and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co adding 0.5 percent to 1,351 yen. (Reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Joseph Radford)