TOKYO, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks ended flat Friday after early gains on the yen's retreat were offset by investors opting to lock in gains.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 11.81 points, or 0.04 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 28,930.33.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, edged up 4.02 points, or 0.2 percent, to finish at 1,994.52.

Brokers here said trading got off to a bright start as the U.S. dollar gained against the yen, marking a three-week high in the upper 136 yen range.

A weaker yen is a boon for exporters as overseas profits made when repatriated are augmented and competitiveness in foreign markets is enhanced, they highlighted.

Dealers here said, however, that early gains were pared in later trade as heavily weighted Nikkei components like Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, were sold for profits.

"While lots of stocks are making gains right now, some major contributors to the index that have led the recent rally like Fast Retailing are weak, so overall the movement is sluggish," a market participant at a domestic securities firm, was quoted as saying.

Market players were also seen to hit the sidelines and refrain from making bold moves ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell symposium next week, for clues as to the future course of the central bank's aggressive monetary policy to tame rising inflation.

"The market's attention is already shifting to a speech next week by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at the annual global central banking conference in Jackson Hole, making it difficult for investors to engage in active trading," Toshikazu Horiuchi, an equity strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities Co., said.

By the close of play, pharmaceutical, service, and information and communication issues declined the most, while gainers comprised oil and coal product, mining and nonferrous metal issues.

Fast Retailing weighed on the broader market losing 1.2 percent, while fellow heavyweight SoftBank Group closed 0.9 percent lower.

Exporters finding favor on the yen's retreat included Sony Group adding 2.1 percent, Nissan Motor gaining 1.3 percent and Mazda Motor advancing 0.7 percent.

Tech issues also advanced, with Advantest up 0.4 percent by the close, while Tokyo Electron jumped 1.5 percent.

On the Prime Market on Friday, 1,022.40 million shares changed hands, rising from Thursday's volume of 987.93 million shares.

Issues that rose outpaced those that fell by 1,077 to 650 on the Prime Market, while 111 ended the day unchanged.

The turnover on the final trading day of the week came to 2,396.35 billion yen (17.54 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem

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