TOKYO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday as investors opted to secure recent gains following the Nikkei's 30-year closing high and hit the sidelines ahead of keenly awaited earnings reports due next week.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 125.41 points, or 0.44 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 28,631.45.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, dropped 4.00 points, or 0.21 percent, to finish at 1,856.64.

Shares declined from the morning bell as investors moved to lock in gains following the Nikkei finishing at its highest level since August 1990 the previous day, local brokers said.

They added that losses were capped as investors bought back oversold issues with some refraining from making bold moves ahead of Japanese firms' earnings reports set to be released next week.

"Friday's decline is mainly due to profit-taking after U.S. stocks touched new highs. Investors are also holding off from buying ahead of earnings reports next week," Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities was quoted as saying.

Other analysts suggested that recovery in exports could lead to some firms upwardly revisiting their earnings outlooks.

In December, Japanese exports increased for the first time year-on-year in 25 months, expanding 2.0 percent from a year earlier to 6.71 trillion yen (64.72 billion U.S. dollars), according to the Finance Ministry.

"As Japan's exports have been recovering to pre-pandemic levels, earnings may cause a positive surprise to the market," Koichi Fujishiro, a senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, was quoted as saying.

By the close of play, mining, iron and steel, and insurance-linked issues comprised those that declined the most.

Technology-linked issues retreated after recent gains, with component maker Taiyo Yuden losing 2.9 percent, while Screen Holdings dropped 3.7 percent. Tokyo Electron, meanwhile, closed 1.6 percent lower.

Ad agency Dentsu Group closed 2.2 percent lower, following reports denied by the government that it had privately decided to cancel the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

Shiseido marked a bright spot, however, climbing 4.4 percent, after announcing it is in talks to sell its personal care products business to European private equity fund CVC Capital Partners.

On the main section on Friday, 1,217.52 million shares changed hands, rising from Thursday's volume of 1,144.47 million shares.

Issue that fell outpaced those that rose by 1,416 to 694 on the First Section, while 80 ended the day unchanged.

The turnover on the last trading day of the week came to 2,373.48 billion yen (22.89 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem

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