TOKYO, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed marginally lower Friday as investor sentiment was dented by subpar economic data from the U.S. and the European Union and contributed to market concerns about the health of the global economy.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 38.72 points, or 0.18 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 21,425.51.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 3.98 points, or 0.25 percent, to finish at 1,609.52.
U.S. core durable goods orders for December coming in under market expectations, along with the Eurozone's manufacturing index for February, sparked some concern among investors about a slowdown in global economic growth, market analysts here said.
"Concerns over a slowdown in the global economy weighed on export-related issues as well as financial issues," Maki Sawada, vice president of the investment research and investor services department at Nomura Securities Co., was quoted as saying.
But losses were capped in later trade, brokers here said, as Shanghai stocks rallied and investors were buoyed by the likelihood of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) purchase of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
By the close of play, marine transportation, oil and coal product, and securities-linked issues comprised those that declined the most, and falling issues beat rising ones by 1,288 to 731 on the First Section, while 111 ended the day unchanged.
On the main section on Friday, 988.67 million shares changed hands, dropping from Thursday's volume of 1,203.20 million shares.
The turnover on the final trading day of the week came to 1,824.5 billion yen (16.47 billion U.S. dollars).
