Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Glass and Banking sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.45%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T:5301), which rose 5.71% or 26.0 points to trade at 481.0 at the close. Mazda Motor Corp. (T:7261) added 4.63% or 73.0 points to end at 1649.5 and SUMCO Corp. (T:3436) was up 4.60% or 76.0 points to 1728.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. (T:1332), which lost 1.23% or 7.0 points to trade at 561.0 in late trade. The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. (T:8355) declined 0.91% or 9.0 points to end at 977.0 and Pioneer Corp. (T:6773) shed 0.88% or 2.0 points to 226.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2076 to 930 and 335 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.80% to 18.67.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was down 0.04% or 0.02 to $53.99 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.07% or 0.04 to hit $56.55 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.78% or 9.75 to trade at $1244.15 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.65% to 113.48, while EUR/JPY rose 0.45% to 119.81.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23% at 101.56.