Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gas & Water, Communication and Rubber sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.02% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Pioneer Corp. (T:6773), which rose 4.07% or 10.0 points to trade at 256.0 at the close. Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (T:9532) added 3.16% or 14.1 points to end at 459.9 and Toshiba Corp. (T:6502) was up 2.97% or 13.5 points to 468.1 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (T:4568), which lost 3.92% or 98.0 points to trade at 2402.0 in late trade. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (T:5713) declined 2.98% or 48.5 points to end at 1579.0 and Kikkoman Corp. (T:2801) shed 2.77% or 105.0 points to 3680.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1717 to 1249 and 373 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.43% to 18.55.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 1.04% or 0.55 to $52.43 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.88% or 0.49 to hit $55.23 a barrel, while the February Gold contract rose 0.44% or 5.05 to trade at $1164.05 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.06% to 115.12, while EUR/JPY rose 0.16% to 122.57.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.14% at 100.94.