Tokyo stocks shed earlier gains and ended sharply lower Monday.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 259.24 points, or 1.50 percent, ending the day at 17,028.41.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gave up 31.12 points, or 1.82 percent, to finish at 1,682.49.

On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,503 to 162, with 61 shares ending the day unchanged.

Nippon Steel was the most heavily traded issue in value and volume terms. It fell 37 yen to 791 yen.

Trading volume on the main section increased to 2,338.36 million shares from Friday's 1,942.97 million shares.

The TSE's Second Section index dropped 40.61 points, or 0.97 percent, to 4,165.31 on a volume of 42.59 million shares. On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term June Nikkei 225 index futures contract tumbled 280 points to 17,030.

Source: Xinhua