Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.05%

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 added 0.05% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Fujikura Ltd. (T: 5803 ), which rose 7.36% or 31.0 points to trade at 452.0 at the close. Tokyo Dome Corp. (T: 9681 ) added 6.67% or 90.0 points to end at 1440.0 and Honda Motor Co Ltd (T: 7267 ) was up 5.09% or 147.5 points to 3047.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Recruit Holdings Co Ltd (T: 6098 ), which lost 4.75% or 203.0 points to trade at 4070.0 in late trade. Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 9064 ) declined 3.11% or 84.0 points to end at 2616.0 and Suzuki Motor Corp. (T: 7269 ) shed 2.41% or 135.0 points to 5457.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1994 to 1501 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 22.13.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.38% or 0.17 to $44.38 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.27% or 0.13 to hit $47.29 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.09% or 1.65 to trade at $1817.25 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.18% to 104.48, while EUR/JPY rose 0.29% to 126.26.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 91.132.