Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Trading and Electrical/Machinery sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Rakuten Inc (T:4755), which rose 4.12% or 40.0 points to trade at 1011.0 at the close. Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. (T:5706) added 4.08% or 113.0 points to end at 2880.0 and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co (T:6305) was up 3.82% or 111.0 points to 3015.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366), which lost 3.70% or 11.0 points to trade at 286.0 in late trade. Sony Corp (T:6758) declined 3.38% or 173.0 points to end at 4951.0 and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (T:7003) shed 2.62% or 32.0 points to 1188.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2163 to 1343 and 234 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.82% to 15.74 a new 6-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 0.13% or 0.08 to $59.37 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.38% or 0.26 to hit $67.87 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.31% or 4.05 to trade at $1302.45 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.19% to 111.58, while EUR/JPY rose 0.15% to 126.58.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 95.960.