Tokyo stocks closed marginally higher on bargain-hunting Wednesday as investors look ahead to Britain's general election and congressional testimony by sacked FBI chief James Comey. The British vote, a European Central Bank policy meeting and testimony from Comey - whom US President Donald Trump fired last month as he probed possible links between Russia and the tycoon's campaign - all take place Thursday.
"It's hard to go for stocks before Comey's testimony is done with," said Seiichi Miura, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. "With equities trading within range of fresh highs, there's a strong inclination among investors to offload their holdings for now," he told Bloomberg News.
While withholding active buying, investors picked up bargains after two days of losses, Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.02 percent, or 4.72 points, at 19,984.62. The Topix index of all first-section issues rose 0.04 percent, or 0.65 points, to 1,597.09. The dollar remained under pressure, buying 109.46 yen against 109.42 yen in New York.
Exporters were mixed, with Canon down 0.99 percent at 3,896 yen while Nissan rose 0.56 percent to 1,074 yen. Major LCD maker Japan Display, which has been hit by Apple's shift to new light-emitting panels, jumped 9.74 percent to close at 214 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported the firm would draw up a drastic turnaround plan this year. Nintendo gave up 1.09 percent to 34,250 yen after advancing to an eight-year high on rosy sales prospects. Energy firms rebounded, with Japan Petroleum Exploration rallying 4.46 percent to 2,271 yen after a jump in oil prices Tuesday.