Japanese shares end lower amid Europe's

Tokyo stocks closed lower Monday, as risk-averse investors mainly sold exporters amid concerns over Europe''s financial problems and fears of a global economic slowdown. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 186.13 points, or 2.17%, to 8,374.13 -- its lowest point since April 1, 2009, when the gauge hit 8,351. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 major economies issued a statement pledging to strengthen the functions of the European Financial Stability Facility on Thursday, a night before the Japanese market was closed for a national holiday Friday. But this did not help improve investor sentiment, and the global downtrend spread to Japanese and other Asian markets in the day. Weaker Asian stocks worsened investor sentiment in Tokyo, briefly sending the benchmark Nikkei index to 8,359. Moves to buy back shares lacked momentum, leaving the index close to the day''s low when the session ended. Trading value totaled 1.428 trillion yen on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on a preliminary basis.