1st LD Writethru: Nikkei ends lower on profit taking after hitting 26-year high

TOKYO, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower Thursday as investors opted to take profits after the Nikkei index passed the 24,000 line for the first time in 26 years on Wall Street's solid lead overnight and the yen's retreat against the U.S. dollar.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 104.97 points, or 0.44 percent, from Wednesday to close the day at 23,763.37.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 13.96 points, or 0.74 percent, to end at 1,876.86.

The Nikkei breaching the 24,000 line for the first time since November 1991, following U.S. shares advancing overnight, prompted buying in early trade, local brokers said.

But owing to the pace of the rise, investors switched to selling later on to lock in profits, they added.

Market players also said a comparatively weak yen against the U.S. dollar helped pare overall losses and gave export-linked issues a boost, while expectations for solid earnings from Japanese firms next week also added support.

Insurance, chemical and bank-linked issues comprised those that declined the most by the close of play, and falling issues beat advancing ones by 1,625 to 371 on the First Section, with 68 ending the day unchanged.

On the main section on Thursday, 1,820.75 million shares changed hands, rising from Wednesday's volume of 1,541.40 million shares.

The turnover on the penultimate trading day of the week came to 3,590.1 billion yen (32.27 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem