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TOKYO, April 1 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei struggled for

headway on Tuesday and was pinned near an eight-month low as

traders braced for another round of painful U.S. tariffs, likely

to hit sales of Japanese exporters.

The Nikkei index closed more or less flat at

35,624.48, having failed to sustain the morning's bounce.

The benchmark had logged a 10.7% fall for the first quarter

on Monday, its largest drop since the pandemic-struck start of

2020, as a darkening trade outlook pummelled Japan's exporters

and the yen benefitted from global flight to safety.

The broader Topix closed 0.1% higher at 2,661.73. It

logged a much smaller quarterly drop of 4.5% on Monday.

"The Nikkei pared its gains as the yen's strength weighed on

exporters," said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai

Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.

The yen was a fraction higher at 149.84 per U.S.

dollar on the day and has rallied about 4.3% year-to-date.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce a broad

round of fresh U.S. tariffs on Wednesday.

"Chip-related stocks capped further gains of the Nikkei.

There is a growing concern globally about the demand for data

centres," Yasuda said.

Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest ( ADTTF ) fell 2.9%

and cable maker Fujikura ( FKURF ) lost 3.1%. Electronics

components maker Alps Alpine's ( APELF ) 5% drop was the largest

decline for the Nikkei.

Earlier in the day, the Bank of Japan's (BOJ)

closely-watched "tankan" survey showed that the headline index

measuring big manufacturers' business confidence stood at +12 in

March, in line with the median market forecast.

The data could have strengthened the yen as it left open the

possibility of early interest rate hikes by the BOJ, Yasuda

said.