Tokyo stocks finished higher Tuesday, as Finance Minister Jun Azumi's remarks aimed at curbing the yen's advance slowed its climb, which encouraged short-covering and purchases of stock index futures by short-term investors. The Nikkei Stock Average closed at 8,755.00, up 30.88 points, or 0.35%. The benchmark index moved little at the start of the day, as investors stayed on the sidelines awaiting earnings news from US chipmaker Intel Corp. and other major US companies, according to (Nikkei.com). The index then began rising gradually, driven by intermittent purchases midway through the morning. It briefly surpassed 8,800, soon after the afternoon session began, following the finance minister's remarks on the yen. Advancers were led by large-cap issues such as Fast Retailing Co. (9983) and Softbank Corp. (9984), which heavily influence the Nikkei index, while some electronics makers and precision instrument firms logged fresh lows for the year. Trading value on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell short of the 1 trillion yen mark, at 923 billion yen.