Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Mining, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Shipbuilding sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.22%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Astellas Pharma Inc. (TYO:4503), which rose 3.18% or 67.50 points to trade at 2,192.00 at the close. Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) added 3.10% or 1,380.00 points to end at 45,900.00 and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TYO:4519) was up 2.70% or 97.00 points to 3,692.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (TYO:9502), which lost 2.30% or 31.00 points to trade at 1,316.00 in late trade. Yokohama Rubber Co Ltd (TYO:5101) declined 2.24% or 45.00 points to end at 1,968.00 and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (TYO:7211) shed 2.22% or 10.00 points to 440.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1945 to 1516 and 293 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.07% to 20.39.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was up 1.07% or 1.02 to $96.00 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in October rose 0.81% or 0.81 to hit $100.27 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 0.03% or 0.55 to trade at $1,717.15 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.05% to 136.98, while EUR/JPY rose 0.31% to 138.90.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 106.91.