Japanese stocks closed lower on Monday as investors failed to shake a dour market mood following European and US shares losing ground at the end of last week, with the drive to offload issues compounded by the yen's rise versus the US dollar.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 70.78 points, or 0.37 percent, from Friday to end the day at 18,916.02, Xinhua reported.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 5.82 points, or 0.38 percent, to finish at 1,531.28.
The day's notable decliners comprised securities, metal products and electric machinery-linked shares. The turnover was 2, 538.3 billion yen ($20.92 billion).
