TOKYO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower for a third straight day as a selloff overnight on Wall Street of tech issues saw their domestic counterparts weigh on the market, while investors took a cautious stance ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 99.93 points, or 0.47 percent, from Monday to close the day at 21, 380.97.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 3.68 points, or 0.21 percent, to finish at 1,716.29.
Tokyo stocks dropped from the get-go tracking technology shares' losses on Wall Street overnight on concerns stiffer regulations will be applied to large technology companies, market strategists here said.
They explained that the selloff was triggered after reports came to light that a British firm commissioned by U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign had been implicated in a privacy scandal involving Facebook users' data.
Losses in the tech sector were expanded in later trade on the likelihood that the European Union will slap hefty levies on U.S. technology companies in retaliation for Trump's proposed controversial tariff policy on steel and aluminum imports, market players said.
A wait-and-see mood took over in later trade, brokers said, as investors hit the sidelines ahead of a two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting beginning later in the day.
They said that while investors have already factored in a rate hike, the Fed's outlook on the economy and the possible increase in the rate of pace hikes were key points being keenly watched out for.
Electric appliance, precision instrument and pharmaceutical-linked issues comprised those that declined the most by the close of play, and falling issues beat rising ones by 1,025 to 947 on the First Section, with 101 ending the day unchanged.
On the main section on Tuesday, 1,181.68 million shares changed hands, dropping from Monday's volume of 1,206.63 million shares.
The turnover on the second trading day of the week came to 2,255.9 billion yen (21.22 billion U.S. dollars).