TOKYO, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday following Wall Street's weak lead overnight amid concerns the U.S. Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy earlier than expected, while surging cases of COVID-19 in Japan also weighed on sentiment.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 364.85 points, or 1.28 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 28,124.28, marking its lowest closing level since Dec. 20.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 27.92 points, or 1.39 percent, to finish at 1,977.66.
Local brokers said that the market here continued to be volatile, tracking losses on Wall Street overnight, following talks indicating the Fed could raise its rate as early as March.
"The Japanese market fell a lot today, it dropped more than the Dow and S&P overnight," Jun Morita, general manager of the research department at Chibagin Asset Management, was quoted as saying.
"Sentiment has been weakened by the expected rate hikes in the United States so there are not many buyers for Japanese shares," Morita said.
Investor sentiment was also dampened by growing concerns over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Nationwide cases here topped 18,000 on Thursday, sparking fears over the impact a continued rise in cases could have on the economy.
"Investors are also worried about the Omicron impact. Japan was faring better than other countries, but now the number of infections have started surging here as well," Morita also said.
By the close of play, issues that fell outpaced those that rose by 1,599 to 503 on the First Section, while 83 ended the day unchanged, with service, real estate and machinery issues leading decliners.
Some tech-related issues followed their U.S. peers lower, with Daikin Industries falling 2.8 percent, while industrial robotics maker Fanuc dropped 5.1 percent.
Tokyo Disney Resort operator Oriental Land lost 1.0 percent on concerns over falling patronage amid the Omicron fears and transportation issues came under pressure for the same reason.
East Japan Railway, for its part, ended the day 1.0 percent lower.
Bucking the downward trend, owner of the Uniqlo chain of casual clothing stores, Fast Retailing, a Nikkei heavyweight, leaped 8.1 percent, helping to trim overall losses.
On the main section on Friday, 1,408.15 million shares changed hands, rising from Thursday's volume of 1,163.57 million shares.
The turnover on the final trading day of the week came to 3,441.03 billion yen (30.23 billion U.S. dollars). ■
