Share prices closed marginally lower as investors opted to take profits amid a lack of fresh leads to push the market higher after hitting four-year peaks earlier this week, dealers said. The blue-chip Nikkei 225 index closed down 15.64 points or 0.1 pct at 12,291.73. It was up 0.2 pct from last week. The broader-based TOPIX index of all First Section issues fell 2.44 points or 0.2 pct to 1,250.50. It rose 0.4 pct from last Friday. Decliners beat gainers 917 to 573, with 155 issues unchanged. Volume reached 1.7 bln shares, down from 1.84 bln shares yesterday. "In the past days, investors are buying on the same theme, that is, on the positive outlook for the Japanese economy, but after the [stock market] rise this week, the time to adjust [positions] has come," said Hideyuki Suzuki, strategist at SBI Securities Co Ltd. "Basically, stocks are strong and this trend is likely to continue next week. But as the election nears, we will see more adjustments," added Suzuki, referring to the upcoming general elections in Japan on September 11. Mitsushige Akino, a chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management said: "Investors are likely to continue taking profits next week as there doesn't seem to be any major economic indicators or favorable leads coming out any time soon to push stocks higher." Shares of precision machinery makers were among the day's losers. Hoya fell 40 yen to 14,460 while Omron shed 15 yen to 2,465. Olympus was off 25 yen to 2,185, Konica Minolta slid 15 yen to 1,033 and Seiko Epson dipped 80 yen or 2.3 pct to 3,340. Automakers were largely mixed. Toyota inched down 30 yen to 4,360, Nissan slid 10 yen to 1,159 while Honda gained 30 yen to 5,680 and Mazda was unchanged at 440 yen.