Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Mining, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Retail sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 2.22%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Bridgestone Corp. (T:5108), which rose 7.39% or 362.0 points to trade at 5263.0 at the close. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107) added 6.55% or 470.0 points to end at 7650.0 and Japan Steel Works Ltd (T:5631) was up 6.45% or 225.0 points to 3715.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Inpex Corp. (T:1605), which lost 3.40% or 40.0 points to trade at 1138.0 in late trade. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (T:5713) declined 2.62% or 146.0 points to end at 5423.0 and JGC Corp. (T:1963) shed 2.40% or 27.0 points to 1096.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2728 to 843 and 218 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 21.21% to 26.63.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.52% or 0.48 to $92.55 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.47% or 0.44 to hit $93.72 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 0.02% or 0.30 to trade at $1856.50 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.05% to 115.68, while EUR/JPY rose 0.16% to 131.51.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 95.905.