TOKYO, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed Friday marginally higher in choppy day that lacked clear direction, although solid U.S. economic data released overnight provided broad support.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 36.90 points, or 0.19 percent, from Thursday to end at 19,590.76.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, added 4.72 points, or 0.30 percent, to close at 1,559.73.
Insurance, securities and mining-linked issues comprised those that advanced the most during trading hours, and advancing issues outpaced declining ones by 1,090 to 804 on the First Section.
Trading volume on the main section on Friday came to 1,908.63 million shares, dropping from Thursday's volume of 2,184.63 million shares.
The turnover on the last trading day of the week totaled 2,407.7 billion yen (21.63 billion U.S. dollars).
