TOKYO, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed higher Friday with the benchmark Nikkei marking its highest close in 15 months, as a comparatively weaker yen versus the U.S. dollar gave exporters a boost, while some investors hit the sidelines ahead of jobs data due out from the U.S. later in the day.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 286.03 points, or 1.48 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 19,604.61, marking its highest close since Dec. 7, 2015.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, advanced 19.33 points, or 1.24 percent, to finish at 1,574.01.
Issues that notably closed in positive territory by the end of trade included marine transportation, electric appliance and insurance-linked stocks and advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by 1,563 to 341 on the First Section.
Trading volume on the main section on Friday came to 2,267.16 million shares, compared to Thursday's volume of 1,595.02 million shares.
The turnover on the final trading day of the week came to 2,948 billion yen (25.55 billion U.S. dollars).
