TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed 0.71 percent lower on Monday after ending last week at a seven-year high, as telecoms giant SoftBank tumbled despite saying it had made billions from the US listing of Alibaba.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange -- which on Friday closed at its highest level since November 2007 -- fell 115.27 points to end at 16,205.90.
The Topix index of all first-section shares was down 0.08 percent, or 1.03 points, at 1,330.88.
"Investor appetite was low in the absence of last week's decline in the yen, as well as ahead of a market holiday," Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities said in an online comment.
Japanese markets are closed Tuesday for a national holiday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank, which holds a one third stake in Alibaba, said it was likely to see a $4.6 billion gain after the Chinese e-commerce giant's record $25.02 billion initial public offering on Wall Street Friday.
However, the firm shed 6.09 percent to finish at 8,207.0 yen, having seen its share price climb about 30 percent in the six weeks leading up to the listing.
Mitsubishi Corp. rose 0.82 percent to 2,331.5 yen on news that the trading house is launching a $1.4 billion bid for Norwegian fish-farming giant Cermaq.
On forex markets, the dollar slipped to 108.82 yen, from 108.99 yen in New York on Friday.
The dollar last week broke 109 yen for the first time since August 2008 after Scotland rejected independence, while the US Federal Reserve suggested interest rates could rise more than initially forecast when they are eventually hiked, possibly from mid-2015.
Currency rates hardly moved after the Group of 20 major world economies said Sunday they could overcome geopolitical tensions and financial risks to achieve extra combined growth of 1.8 percent. (AFP)
