TOKYO, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower on Monday as investors cautiously opted to secure gains as domestic quarterly earnings season swings into gear and global markets eye a U.S monetary policy meeting later this week.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 124.56 points, or 0.60 percent, from Friday to close the day at 20,649.00.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 10.59 points, or 0.68 percent, to finish at 1,555.51.
The yen's appreciation against the U.S. dollar set an early impetus for investors to lock in gains, brokers here said, with profit-taking giving way to a wait-and-see mood in later trade ahead of upcoming key market-moving events.
Masahiro Ichikawa, a senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co., said investors hit the sidelines to take a breather and eye upcoming events that could have significant market implications.
"Investors took to the sidelines ahead of a series of key events later in the week while the yen's advance against the dollar dented market sentiment," Ichikawa said.
He was referring to a U.S monetary policy meeting later this week as well as high-level U.S.-China trade talks.
As other major Asian bourses advanced, losses here were capped, market strategists said. But the reversed happened when Asian equities lost ground and selling in Tokyo became more pervasive, they pointed out.
By the close of play, electric power and gas, miscellaneous product, and consumer credit-linked issues comprised those that declined the most, and falling issues beat rising ones by 1,498 to 560 on the First Section, while 69 ended the day unchanged.
On the main section on Monday, 1,065.02 million shares changed hands, dropping from Friday's volume of 1,330.94 million shares.
The turnover on the first trading day of the week came to 1,876.5 billion yen (17.14 billion U.S. dollars).
