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Tokyo, May 22 : The Nikkei average fell 1.84 percent on Monday to close below 16,000 for the first time in more than two months, as lower oil prices sent INPEX Holdings Inc. and other resource-related shares lower.

Elpida Memory Inc. and other firms with disappointing earnings numbers lost ground. Sumitomo Trust&Banking Co. Ltd. dropped even though the company forecast a further rise in earnings this year.

Bank shares were in focus as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's biggest banking group, and No. 2 Mizuho Financial Group Inc. were among companies announcing full-year earnings after the market close.

Masaki Iso, chief investment officer at Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd., said concerns that further credit tightening in the United States may lead to a hard landing of the U.S. economy had weighed on the Japanese stock market.

''Foreign investors have pulled back their money as such concerns centring on the U.S. economy grew,'' he said.

''But I think selling, at least for now, has subsided. The market should remain firm this week,'' he added.

Iso also said many retail investors have bought stocks on credit, meaning they have to sell their shares in coming months to pay back their loans, capping further gains in stocks.

The Nikkei average lost 297.58 points to 15,857.87, closing below 16,000 for the first time since March 8. The benchmark has given up nearly 1,000 points in the past two weeks.

The TOPIX index lost 1.39 percent to 1,615.86.

Shinji Igarashi, equity manager at Chuo Securities, said some investors appeared to be buying bond futures and selling stock futures, pushing down the stock cash market.

''There seems to be some speculative moves in the market,'' he said.

Benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond futures jumped more than a half point to hit a seven-week high on Monday, as solid gains in the bond cash market and weaker share prices prompted a wave of short-covering.

Shares of energy-related firms lose ground after U.S. crude futures settled nearly $1 lower on Friday, hit by a broad sell-off in commodities markets.

INPEX Holdings Inc., Japan's biggest oil explorer, lost 5.3 percent at 947,000 yen and Nippon Mining Holdings Inc., which includes oil refiner Japan Energy among its holdings, declined 8 percent to 948 yen.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. T> , Japan's biggest banking group, dropped 2.4 percent to 1.63 million yen, ahead of its earnings announcement. Second-ranked Mizuho Financial Group Inc. was down 0.2 percent at 940,000 yen.

Steel stocks lost most of their earlier gains, unable to buck the overall bearish trend. They initially advanced as Arcelor said on Sunday it was willing to study Mittal Steel's improved takeover offer and business plan to create a global steel giant, fuelling expectations for a further shake-up in the market.

Nippon Steel Corp, the world's third largest steel maker, dropped 1.2 percent at 419 yen while fourth ranked JFE Holdings Inc. slipped 1.1 percent to 4,640 yen, after earlier hitting its all-time high of 4,820 yen.

In the technology sector, Sony Corp. and KDDI Corp. rose after KDDI, Japan's second-largest telecoms operator, said on Monday it plans to launch Walkman brand music phones made by Sony Ericsson in Japan in June.

Sony gained 0.8 percent to 5,120 yen and KDDI rang up 1.4 percent to 737,000 yen.

Trading volume edged up from Friday, with 1.906 billion shares changing hands. That was still lower than last week's daily average of 2.02 billion shares. Decliners outnumbered gainers by a ratio of about 5 to 2.

Reuters