Tokyo stocks closed higher Monday for the third straight session, as investors bought bank and brokerage shares following gains on Wall Street last week. The U.S. dollar held steady against the Japanese yen and euro. The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues advanced 74.00 points, or 0.66 percent, to finish the day at 11,266.33 points. The index has risen a total of 251.90 points, or 2.29 percent, over the past three sessions, including Friday's uptick of 164.39 points, or 1.49 percent. Stocks posted gains as investors welcomed the dollar's strength by buying technology blue chips, after an initial bout of profit-taking. A higher dollar tends to increase Japanese exporters' earnings by making their products more affordable to overseas buyers. Banks and brokerages were also higher, thanks to Japanese data showing production at factories and refineries rose in April and strong buying in U.S. stock markets last week -- both promising signs that could boost growth in Japan. Japanese industrial production rose 2.2 percent in April from March, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday, suggesting the nation's economy may be coming out of a soft patch. That matched the forecast of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and Nikkei and was the first rise in three months, following a 0.2 percent fall in March and a 2.3 percent decrease in February. The broader TOPIX, which includes all issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, gained 9.24 points, or 0.82 percent, to 1,141.58 points. The TOPIX rose 8.84 points, or 0.79 percent, Friday.