TOKYO, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed higher Wednesday, breaking a five-day losing streak that saw the Nikkei index slip to a six-month low.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average finished the day up 159.84 points, or 0.58 percent, from Tuesday at 27,548.00.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended 15.52 points, or 0.82 percent, higher at 1,904.41.

Gaining issues were led by transportation equipment, metal product and nonferrous metal issues.

Stocks were higher from the opening, as the Nikkei temporarily increased nearly 500 points in the morning after a five-day decline that saw the index fall over 1,300 points in total to its lowest level since Jan. 6, which was on fears that the speed of global economic recovery would be decreased by a spread of the highly contagious Delta COVID-19 variant.

The market's gains were cut down later in the day due to a lack of fresh trading cues before a four-day weekend in Japan as well as the beginning of the Tokyo Olympics.

"The market regained composure after overreacting to an increase in COVID-19 cases over the past few days," said Masashi Samizo, senior market analyst at SMBC Trust Bank.

Investors avoided large moves out of concern that global markets may fluctuate hugely during the four-day weekend in Japan, he added.

On the First Section, advancers outnumbered decliners 1,748 to 352, while 91 finished unchanged.

Air transportation issues dropped after the sector's fall over seven consecutive trading days, brokers said.

ANA Holdings went up 1.1 percent, and Japan Airlines increased 1.3 percent.

Export-related shares experienced an incentive after the yen dented against the U.S. dollar overnight. They attained further support as government data showed earlier in the day that Japan's exports in the first half of 2021 soared 23.2 percent from the previous year, logging the largest year-on-year growth in 11 years, brokers said.

Honda Motor rose 1.1 percent, and Mitsubishi Motors increased 1.1 percent, while electrical appliance manufacturer Sharp gained 1.1 percent.

Trading volume on the main section decreased to 937.25 million shares from Tuesday's 1,086.46 million shares.