TOKYO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed marginally higher Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight with retailers here propping up the market's downside.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 27.26 points, or 0.13 percent, from Tuesday to close the day at 21,319.55.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, gained 2.33 points, or 0.14 percent, to finish at 1,706.13.
In jittery trade, local brokers said that rather than chasing the market's upside owing to concerns for ongoing international trade frictions, investors sought out domestic-driven issues like retailers.
They said the market's downside was supported by the advances of large-cap retailers like Fast Retailing, owner and operator of the Uniqlo chain of high street clothing stores.
Fishery and agriculture, retail and real estate-linked issues comprised those that advanced the most by the close of play, and rising issues outpaced declining ones by 1,517 to 505 on the First Section, with 59 ending the day unchanged.
On the main section on Wednesday, 1,519.06 million shares changed hands, rising from Tuesday's volume of 1,311.81 million shares.
The turnover on the third trading day of the week came to 2,647.1 billion yen (24.82 billion U.S. dollars).