TOKYO, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday erasing earlier gains as investor consternation grew ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's speech expected later in the day at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 37.61 points, or 0.16 percent, from Thursday to finish the day at 23,631.88, marking its lowest closing level since Jan. 4.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, dropped 5.17 points, or 0.27 percent, to close at 1,879.39.
Market strategists here said that gains were made in early trade on the yen's retreat against the U.S. dollar following Trump's remarks reportedly contradicting those made a day earlier by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Mnuchin had declared that a weaker U.S. dollar would be better for the nation's trade.
Exporters subsequently regained ground and sentiment brightened on expectations for domestic corporate earnings, but investors took a cautious stance ahead of Trump's speech later in the day in Davos, and selling prevailed as positions were adjusted in later trade.
Brokers here said that there were some concerns about possible U.S. protectionism leading to the U.S. dollar being sold against the yen and investors also hit the sidelines to realign themselves ahead of further corporate earnings reports here.
Mining, insurance and bank-oriented issues comprised those that declined the most by the close of play, and rising issues beat declining ones by 1,079 to 876 on the First Section, with 109 ending the day unchanged.
On the main section on Friday, 1,534.27 million shares changed hands, dropping from Thursday's volume of 1,563.33 million shares.
The turnover on the final trading day of the week came to 2,907.5 billion yen (26.66 billion U.S. dollars).
