Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Insurance, Steel and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.57%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sony Corp. (T:6758), which rose 6.46% or 186.5 points to trade at 3072.0 at the close. Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (T:2502) added 5.11% or 180.0 points to end at 3700.0 and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings (T:8725) was up 4.96% or 146.5 points to 3101.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nisshinbo Holdings Inc. (T:3105), which lost 3.02% or 36.0 points to trade at 1155.0 in late trade. Tokuyama Corp. (T:4043) declined 2.85% or 8.0 points to end at 273.0 and Astellas Pharma Inc. (T:4503) shed 2.76% or 40.5 points to 1429.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1355 to 496 and 146 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.85% to 26.17.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for July delivery was up 1.46% or 0.71 to $49.33 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in July rose 1.36% or 0.66 to hit $49.27 a barrel, while the June Gold contract fell 0.42% or 5.15 to trade at $1224.05 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.04% to 110.04, while EUR/JPY rose 0.13% to 122.69.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.04% at 95.55.