TOKYO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday as investors scooped up battered shares, although the market was still weighed by concerns on the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average finished up 113.86 points, or 0.41 percent, from Tuesday at 27,935.62.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended 8.39 points, or 0.44 percent, higher at 1,936.74.

Gaining issues were led by pulp and paper, marine transportation and machinery issues.

Stocks moved higher from the beginning as investors bought battered shares after the Nikkei index on Tuesday tumbled more than 1,600 points over three trading days, ending at its lowest level since Oct. 7.

In the early trading, the benchmark briefly dropped into the negative territory due to concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant, a day after Japan confirmed its first such case of a man arriving from Namibia.

In the afternoon, however, the market bounced back with the support from steady U.S. stock futures, brokers said.

"Investors bought back battered shares as the market dropped too quickly over the past few days, although they refrained from chasing the upside due to some negative factors including the COVID-19 variant and concerns that the U.S. Fed will accelerate stimulus tapering," Koichi Fujishiro, a senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

Transportation issues were especially hit hard as travel demand is expected to be driven down on fears over the new strain, he added.

East Japan Railway dropped 0.9 percent, Odakyu Electric Railway slid 0.7 percent, and Keio sank 1.0 percent.

Meanwhile, machinery shares turned upward after data from the Finance Ministry showed capital spending in the July-September period increased from the previous year, and manufacturers' expenditures also saw a rise for the second straight quarter.

Daikin Industries advanced 4.5 percent, Komatsu climbed 1.0 percent, and industrial robot producer Yaskawa Electric jumped 3.3 percent.

On the First Section, advancers outnumbered decliners 1,368 to 751, while 65 finished unchanged.

Trading volume on the main section dropped to 1,441.19 million shares from Tuesday's 2,545.76 million shares. Enditem

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