US stocks closed higher yesterday as Wall Street shrugged off a sharp sell-off in Tokyo after the collapse of a major Japanese brokerage.

The Dow Jones industrial average managed to rise 41.03 points to 7,808.95 after meandering from an early 53-point gain to a 28point loss.

Broad-market indicators also turned higher despite yesterday's 5 per cent tumble on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a nine-to-eight margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,546 up, 1,375 down and 517 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 571.13 million shares against 513.99 million in the previous session.

The Standard and Poor's 500stock list rose 4.15 to 950.82, the NYSE composite index rose 1.84 to 496.98, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.06 to 1,589.05.

Smaller-company shares lagged the blue-chip rebound, finishing slightly lower. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 0.92 to 426.91.