Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Power, Banking and Finance & Investment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.74%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (T:5202), which rose 9.50% or 78.0 points to trade at 899.0 at the close. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T:9501) added 6.55% or 28.0 points to end at 455.5 and Softbank Corp. (T:9984) was up 6.28% or 436.5 points to 7392.1 in late trade.
Biggest losers included KDDI Corp. (T:9433), which lost 3.04% or 89.5 points to trade at 2854.5 in late trade. Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (T:4507) declined 2.69% or 143.0 points to end at 5176.0 and Shiseido Co., Ltd. (T:4911) shed 2.57% or 75.5 points to 2862.5.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2212 to 845 and 275 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.88% to 17.28 a new 52-week low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.35% or 0.18 to $50.75 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.19% or 0.10 to hit $53.83 a barrel, while the February Gold contract fell 0.09% or 1.05 to trade at $1169.05 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.31% to 114.37, while EUR/JPY rose 0.31% to 122.58.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.07% at 100.58.