Nikkei down in lacklustre trade, weighed by yen

* Nikkei down on profit-taking after 7.6 pct rise last week

* Trade thin, attention on U.S. jobs data, Big 3 plans

* Lagging start to U.S. Christmas sales weighs on market

* Yen edges up on dollar, euro but off earlier highs (Adds stocks, details)

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average lost 1.4 percent on Monday, with high tech shares such as Advantest Corp (6857.T) down on profit-taking as trade thinned on investor fears about U.S. jobs data due out later this week.

Honda Motor Co (7267.T) shed 2.9 percent after a top executive at the car maker said it would have a tough time meeting its lowered annual profit forecasts due to an increasingly severe sales environment. [ID:nT186150] Market players said that few investors were willing to brave this week's uncertainties, including a raft of U.S. indicators culminating in jobless figures on Friday. There is also speculation over whether the struggling Big Three U.S. automakers will win government financial support. "With potential bombshells like these ahead, nobody wants to buy now, even though this might be a good time to do so," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities.

"World market moves these days all centre on what happens on Wall Street, and these issues -- the jobless data and Big Three plans -- have the potential to provoke large share moves."

Early results from the Black Friday weekend marking the start of the Christmas shopping season in the United States showed that sales grew in shops and online, fuelled by repeat trips and deep discounts.  Continued...