TOKYO, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed slightly higher Thursday as positive corporate earnings for the April-June period buoyed overall sentiment.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average edged up 29.48 points, or 0.15 percent, from Wednesday to close at 20,079.64.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, gained 5.96 points, or 0.37 percent, to finish at 1,626.84.
Precision instrument, air transportation, and electric power and gas-linked stocks comprised those that gained the most by the close of play, and rising issues outpaced declining ones by 991 to 884 on the First Section.
Traders here said that the market received early support from record closes on Wall Street overnight, but the yen's appreciation against the U.S. dollar following the U.S. Federal Reserve suggesting its rate hikes may be slower than expected dented sentiment.
But overall investors have been upbeat about domestic first-quarter corporate earnings, brokers here added, which helped keep the index pointing in the right direction despite a choppy day of trading.
On the main section Thursday, 1,837.16 million shares changed hands, up from Wednesday's volume of 1,727.77 million shares.
The turnover on the penultimate trading day of the week totaled 2,546.0 billion yen (22.91 billion U.S. dollars).
