TOKYO, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed sharply higher Friday as sentiment being lifted by solid performances on overseas bourses saw investors take to buying back issues deemed oversold during the market’s three-day downturn.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average climbed 420.75 points, or 2.0 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 21,466.99.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, added 29.69 points, or 1.94 percent, to finish at 1,563.96.
Local brokers said that investors bought back issues oversold following the Nikkei’s almost 2.9 percent loss over the past three trading days.
They added that export-related issues as well as those driven by domestic demand found traction, after being oversold recently.
"Stocks were sold too much yesterday and investors bought back both exporters and domestic-demand sensitive issues among others today,” Toshikazu Horiuchi, equity strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities Co., was quoted as saying.
Chip-linked issues like Tokyo Electron regained ground, as market sentiment was bolstered throughout the day by rises on other major Asian bourses, and exporters like Toyota also accelerated cancelling out recent losses.
By the close of play, all industry categories advanced into positive territory, with farm and fishery, securities house, and food-related issues comprising those that gained the most.
On the main section on Friday, 1,109.85 million shares changed hands, dropping from Thursday's volume of 1,288.72 million shares.
The turnover on the final trading day of the week came to 1,928.9 billion yen (17.92 billion U.S. dollars).
