TOKYO, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks fell to a 2-month closing low on Monday as money markets betting against the euro sent the currency plummeting to a four-year low compounding investor anxiety that increased austerity measures in Europe could impair global economic growth. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 226.75 points, or 2.17 percent, from Friday to 10,235.76, marking its lowest closing level since March 4. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 16.02 points, or 1.71 percent, to 920.43. Brokers said that the euro's sharp decline against the yen coupled with increasing concerns that Greece, Spain and Portugal's efforts to slash sovereign debt could hamper the recovery in an increasingly fragile euro zone, which would adversely effect the pace of the global recovery. With the euro sliding to a four-year low against the dollar on Monday and reaching the lower 112 yen level at one point in Tokyo during trading hours, investors had little choice but to offload a broad range of shares, strategists said, adding that Japanese export-related shares with a high proportion of sales in Europe were being conspicuously dumped on Monday.

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