Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.89%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Shipbuilding , Precision Instruments and Transport sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.89%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Olympus Corp. (T: 7733 ), which rose 6.70% or 205.0 points to trade at 3265.0 at the close. Furukawa Co., Ltd. (T: 5715 ) added 4.26% or 48.0 points to end at 1174.0 and Nippon Light Metal Holdings Co. (T: 5703 ) was up 3.92% or 8.0 points to 212.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included SUMCO Corp. (T: 3436 ), which lost 5.14% or 62.0 points to trade at 1145.0 in late trade. Japan Tobacco Inc (T: 2914 ) declined 2.92% or 75.5 points to end at 2511.5 and Showa Denko K.K. (T: 4004 ) shed 2.19% or 70.0 points to 3130.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 3065 to 589 and 93 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 22.90% to 32.25 a new 6-month high.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 1.03% or 0.44 to $42.97 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 0.33% or 0.17 to hit $50.60 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.38% or 4.85 to trade at $1276.65 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.17% to 110.47, while EUR/JPY rose 0.06% to 125.85.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.18% at 96.178.