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TOKYO, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday as a comparatively firm yen against the U.S. dollar saw exporter issues lose ground, while some investors avoided making bold moves ahead of the Group of 20 finance chiefs' meeting starting later in the day.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 68.55 points, or 0.35 percent, from Thursday to finish the day at 19,521.59.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, dropped 6.84 points, or 0.43 percent, to close at 1,565.85.
Notable decliners by the close of play comprised marine transportation, oil and coal product, and pharmaceutical-linked stocks and declining issues outpaced advancing ones by 1,116 to 742 on the First Section.
Trading volume on the main section on Friday rose to 2,013.61 million shares from Thursday's volume of 1,796.51 million.
The turnover on the last trading day of the week came to 2,459 billion yen (21.70 billion U.S. dollars).
