Share prices closed narrowly mixed with the benchmark Nikkei 225 pressured by weakness on Wall Street and surging oil prices, dealers said. At the same time ongoing optimism over the government's upbeat assessment of the Japanese economy continued to provide some support to the broad market. The Nikkei 225 index closed down 5.13 points or 0.04 pct at 12,256.55, second consecutive day of decline. The broader-based TOPIX index of all First Section issues gained 3.64 points or 0.3 pct to 1,248.77, extending gains for the sixth consecutive days. Gainers beat decliners 879 to 633, with 137 issues unchanged. Volume reached 1.85 bln shares, little changed from 1.90 bln shares at Friday's closing. "Given the lower stocks in New York on Friday, shares prices here should have been significantly lower too. But this was not the case because foreign investors have been buying on Japan's improving economic fundamentals," Mitsushige Akino, a chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management said. "We will know in September if the Japanese economy is truly out of its lull but for the time being, macro economic indicators such as GDP (released last Friday) show the economy is recovering." Support for the market is also being underpin by expectations the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will win the snap election called for September 11, fuelling hopes that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform program will continue, Akino added. In morning Asian trade, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery eased to 66.39 usd a barrel, down from 66.86 usd at Friday's close. It touched an all-time high of 67.10 dollars last Friday.