Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Retail, Gas & Water and Transport sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.57%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411), which rose 5.88% or 144.0 points to trade at 2595.0 at the close. Yamaha Corp. (T:7951) added 5.16% or 200.0 points to end at 4075.0 and Kobe Steel, Ltd. (T:5406) was up 4.25% or 43.0 points to 1055.5 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T:8035), which lost 5.77% or 1285.0 points to trade at 20995.0 in late trade. Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T:7735) declined 5.03% or 540.0 points to end at 10185.0 and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (T:4063) shed 3.82% or 475.0 points to 11945.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2214 to 1086 and 196 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.96% to 17.89.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.40% or 0.23 to $57.76 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.49% or 0.31 to hit $62.93 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.05% or 0.70 to trade at $1295.60 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.02% to 111.50, while EUR/JPY rose 0.23% to 132.25.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.15% at 93.06.