The key Nikkei average of 225 leading issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 59.58 points to end at 16,622.50, the highest rate for more than three weeks. ``Trading picked up today as investors believe the market has spent long enough adjusting to the recent advance,'' said Tsuyoshi Segawa, head of Nikko Securities Co Ltd's equity dealing.

The market barometer rose above 17,000 points last month to trade at its highest level since October 1997 but has since slid back. ``Sellers retreated to the sidelines today without major pegs to push selling further,'' Segawa said.

An estimated 490 million shares changed hands on the first section, up from Tuesday's 371.4 million shares. The Topix index of all first-section issues gained 3.37 points to 1,342.51. Investors have not been so encouraged by some reported details of a Japanese governmentdraft of an industry and employment support package, Segawa said.

``But the market still hopes the government may announce something big'' in coming days in a show of Tokyo's battle against the prolonged recession at a time when the world's leaders are meeting in for the G7 summit in Cologne, Germany, he said. Tokyo share prices opened lower following an overnight drop on Wall Street and the yen's strength against the dollar.

But prices stood firm later as brokers were heartened by bargain hunting on booming over-the-counter stocks, brokers said. ``Share prices today are surprisingly steady given a drop in the Dow,'' said Kazunori Jinnai, deputy general manager of the equity department at Daiwa Securities Co Ltd.

Lacking major factors to trade on, brokers were anxious to see Thursday's release of gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the three months to March, he said. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) rose 10,000 yen, or 0.8 per cent, to end at 1,240,000 yen after it abandoned plans to takeover telecoms carrier International Digital Communications Inc.