Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.31% 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 gained 0.31%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nitto Denko Co (T:6988), which rose 7.91% or 740.0 points to trade at 10100.0 at the close. Canon Inc (T:7751) added 6.72% or 156.0 points to end at 2478.0 and Seiko Epson Cor (T:6724) was up 5.55% or 96.0 points to 1826.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (T:9007), which lost 3.34% or 105.0 points to trade at 3035.0 in late trade. Advantest Corp. (T:6857) declined 2.97% or 270.0 points to end at 8830.0 and Hitachi Zosen Corp. (T:7004) shed 2.93% or 19.0 points to 630.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2076 to 1436 and 218 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 20.90.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.74% or 0.39 to $53.00 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.66% or 0.37 to hit $56.01 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.22% or 4.10 to trade at $1846.80 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.10% to 103.70, while EUR/JPY rose 0.05% to 126.03.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 90.233.