"Investors took a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the G-7," said Kazunori Jinnai, deputy equity manager at Daiwa Securities Co. "Some of them adjusted positions towards the weekend."

The market was waiting to see if the Bonn meeting of G-7 finance ministers and central bankers comes out with a clear stance toward the recent strength of the dollar against the yen, brokers said.

"Share prices rose in the afternoon as the yen fell against the dollar. But the gains fizzled as the yen's decline stalled," said Nomura Securities Co senior market analyst Tatsuo Kurokawa.

The yen fell to a low of 120.75 to the dollar as Japan's financial authorities said they wanted a weaker currency, traders said. But it came back to fetch 119.90-93 to the dollar when the stock market closed out. The 225-issue Nikkei average finished 48.75 points lower at 14,098.04 while the Topix index of all issues on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 0.77 points at 1,094.50. Turnover on the major board totaled 402.9 million shares against the previous day's 348.04 million shares.