Tokyo  - The Japanese market started the week lower Monday as investors sold shares to lock in profits from the previous week's gains.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 151.91 points, or 1.76 per cent, to 8,475.06.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 15.91 points, or 1.93 per cent, to 808.62.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 98.05-10 yen, up from Friday's 5 pm quote of 97.88-91 yen.

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Tokyo, March 28: The discovery of fragments of an iron tool in Turkey has pushed back the start of the Iron Age by several centuries, which may lead to the history of iron tool production being re-written.

According to a report in the Asahi Shimbun, the fragments were found at Kaman-Kalehoyuk, about 100 kilometers southeast of Ankara, by researchers of the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan.

They said that iron fragments believed to be part of a blade were found in a geological layer dating from 2100 B. C. to
1950 B. C.

Tokyo - The Japanese parliament on Friday passed a record 88.5-trillion-yen (902.74 billion dollars) budget for fiscal 2009.

With the budget passed, Prime Minister Taro Aso was expected to order the government next week to compile an extra budget for economic stimulus measures for the year that starts on April 1.

The upper house earlier Friday voted down the budget, which includes 1 trillion yen in special emergency reserves, because the opposition holds the majority of the House of Councillors.

But the more powerful lower house, which approved the budget last month, takes precedence on budgetary decisions, according to the constitution.

Tokyo - Japan's consumer prices stopped their increase as a February's core index remained flat, making it the second straight stable month, the government said Friday.

The nation's key consumer price index (CPI), which excludes fresh food prices, remained unchanged in February year-on-year at 100.4 against 100 for the base year of 2005, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.

Tokyo  - Tokyo stocks extended its winning streak to end Friday morning trading higher after Wall Street advanced overnight on continued hopes of an improved economic outlook in the United States.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average inched up 83.22 points, or 0.96 per cent, to 8,719.55, as US companies posted better-than-expected earnings figures.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also up 7.67 points, or 0.93 per cent, to 834.48.