* Gains may be short-lived - analyst
* Takeda Pharma, Nissan sink after earnings shock
* Mitsubishi Estate jumps on share buyback, governancereform
By Hideyuki Sano and Ayai Tomisawa
TOKYO, May 15 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei ended higher inchoppy trade on Wednesday, snapping a seven-day losing streak,as expectations that China could roll out fresh stimulus to propup a slowing economy supported stocks in the region.
The Nikkei share average ended 0.6% higher at21,288.56, after trading in negative territory in the morning.It had dropped for seven straight days.
The broader Topix, which hit a four-month low theprevious day, rose 0.6% to 1,544.15.
"The market turned around on hopes that China will launchstimulus measures to tackle the weak economy, but the gains maybe short-lived as it was just hopes at this point," said YutakaMiura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
U.S. futures also rose 0.2% indicating a positiveopen for U.S. stocks later in the day.
Exporters gained with Sony Corp up 4%, Subaru Corprising 2.7% and Hitachi Ltd 2.6% higher.
Meanwhile, Japanese corporate earnings disappointed themarket, with net profits falling almost 5.0% from a year earlierin January-March, according to Okasan Securities.
Takeda Pharmaceutical plunged 7.8% after Japan'sbiggest drugmaker forecast an unexpected operating loss for thecurrent year due to costs associated with the $59 billionpurchase of Shire Plc.
That weighed on Tokyo Stock Exchange's drugmaker subindex3%, making it the worst performer.
Nissan Motor slumped 6.5% after the carmakerforecast the weakest profit outlook in more than a decade.
"The earnings results suggested that the company is in muchworse shape than I have imagined," said Hiroshi Masushima,market analyst at Monex Securities.
The carmaker, hit by former chairman Carlos Ghosn's arrestlast year and troubles at its North American business, also saidits dividend will be cut about 30% in another blow to investorsas its hefty payouts have been the only major attraction.
H2O Retailing stumbled 11% as the mid-tierdepartment store operator posted weak earnings and guidance.
On the upside, Mitsubishi Estate jumped 9.2% afterthe real estate developer announced its first share buyback anda plan to abolish anti-takeover steps.(Editing by Sam Holmes)
