TOKYO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed higher Wednesday as investor sentiment was bolstered by Wall Street's overnight rise, helped by Walmart's solid sales figures.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 128.84 points, or 0.60 percent, from Tuesday to close the day at 21,431.49.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, gained 6.95 points, or 0.43 percent, to finish at 1,613.47.

Investors were encouraged in early trade to chase the market higher, local traders said, following U.S. shares advancing overnight.

They added that the market was also keenly eyeing trade talks to be held between China and the U.S. later this week.

Referring to a remark made by U.S. President Donald Trump indicating that the deadline for talks may be a flexible one, analysts here said the message was well received by the market.

"Trump's statement can be interpreted as the trade talks are progressing and may stretch beyond March 1, which could result in a delay in U.S. tariff hikes on China," Akira Tanoue, a senior strategist in the investment research department at Nomura Securities Co., was quoted as saying.

In later trade buying ran its course and investors switched to locking in gains made and took to awaiting further trading cues.

By the close of play, nonferrous metal, electric power and gas, and wholesale trade-linked issues comprised those that gained the most, and rising issues beat declining ones by 1,196 to 846 on the First Section, while 88 ended unchanged.

On the main section on Wednesday, 1,168.36 million shares changed hands, rising from Tuesday's volume of 1,066.05 million shares.

The turnover on the third trading day of the week came to 2,092.2 billion yen (18.87 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem

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