TOKYO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed higher Wednesday as the yen's retreat against the U.S. dollar gave exporters a boost, which had a positive bearing on the broader market ahead of investors tuning in to the U.S. Federal Reserve's May policy meeting minutes scheduled for release later in the day.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 129.70 points, or 0.66 percent, from Tuesday to close the day at 19,742.98.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, gained 9.89 points, or 0.63 percent, to finish at 1,575.11.
Securities, machinery and precision instrument-related stocks comprised those that advanced the most by the close of play, and advancing issues outpaced declining ones by 1,427 to 466 on the First Section.
Trading volume on the main section on Wednesday came to 1,728.23 million shares, rising from Tuesday's volume of 1,543.76 million shares.
The turnover on the third trading day of the week came to 2,222.6 billion yen (19.87 billion yen).
