Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.51% By Investing.com

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 rose 0.51%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kobe Steel, Ltd. (T:5406), which rose 9.09% or 59.0 points to trade at 708.0 at the close. JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) added 8.36% or 92.0 points to end at 1193.0 and Hitachi Zosen Corp. (T:7004) was up 7.99% or 57.0 points to 770.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kubota Corp. (T:6326), which lost 3.59% or 90.0 points to trade at 2420.0 in late trade. TOTO Ltd. (T:5332) declined 3.14% or 210.0 points to end at 6470.0 and Fujitsu Ltd. (T:6702) shed 2.27% or 355.0 points to 15260.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1932 to 1577 and 226 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 26.24.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 0.38% or 0.23 to $59.98 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.48% or 0.30 to hit $63.00 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.11% or 1.85 to trade at $1731.75 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.15% to 106.83, while EUR/JPY rose 0.18% to 129.19.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 90.752.