Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday after big drops on overseas markets, with technology firms among those hit hardest. US and European stocks tumbled Thursday following hawkish commentary from central banks signalling an end to the loose monetary policy put in place to drag the world economy out of the financial crisis. "There's been profit-taking in certain tech shares, which have rallied recently," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.
"Declines in New York are driving the profit-taking."
The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.92 percent, or 186.87 points, to end the day at 20,033.43. Over the week the index edged down 0.49 percent.
The broader Topix index of all first-section issues fell 0.75 percent, or 12.17 points, to 1,611.90. Over the week the index was up 0.03 percent.
Looking ahead, investors will be closely watching a series of data including the Bank of Japan's Tankan quarterly survey report, America's ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing indexes and ADP employment data.
Before the opening bell Friday, government data showed Japanese inflation rose again in May but it remains way off the central bank's target while household spending was also weak.
The dollar changed hands at 111.97 yen, down from 112.11 yen in New York and 112.26 yen in Tokyo earlier Thursday.
Among tech firms, Nintendo dropped 2.83 percent to 37,680 yen while Sony fell 1.80 percent to 4,286 yen and Panasonic was down 1.77 percent at 1,524 yen.
Toyota was off 0.28 percent at 5,893 yen while Honda declined 0.64 percent to 3,064 yen.
But mega bank Mitsubishi UFJ edged up 0.05 percent to 754.8 yen while Sumitomo Mitsui rose 0.29 percent to 4,379 yen.
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