Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.33%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.33%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Hitachi Zosen Corp. (T:7004), which rose 5.13% or 26.0 points to trade at 533.0 at the close. Trend Micro Inc. (T:4704) added 3.82% or 220.0 points to end at 5980.0 and Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T:6506) was up 3.74% or 180.0 points to 4990.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Pacific Metals Co., Ltd. (T:5541), which lost 5.75% or 131.0 points to trade at 2148.0 in late trade. Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (T:7003) declined 3.89% or 15.0 points to end at 371.0 and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (T:3099) shed 3.76% or 23.0 points to 589.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1999 to 1542 and 204 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 19.40.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was down 0.98% or 0.46 to $46.56 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.92% or 0.46 to hit $49.62 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.07% or 1.35 to trade at $1871.65 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.20% to 103.42, while EUR/JPY rose 0.06% to 126.09.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.27% at 90.305.