Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.18%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gas & Water , Non-Metal Minerals and Retail sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.18%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Yokogawa Electric Corp. (TYO: 6841 ), which rose 12.81% or 257.00 points to trade at 2,264.00 at the close. IHI Corp. (TYO: 7013 ) added 8.44% or 241.00 points to end at 3,095.00 and Nippon Yusen K.K (TYO: 9101 ) was up 5.39% or 500.00 points to 9,770.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Pacific Metals Co., Ltd. (TYO: 5541 ), which lost 21.88% or 700.00 points to trade at 2,500.00 in late trade. Shizuoka Bank Ltd (TYO: 8355 ) declined 6.56% or 56.00 points to end at 798.00 and Resona Holdings, Inc. (TYO: 8308 ) shed 5.50% or 30.00 points to 515.90.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2002 to 1483 and 241 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.14% to 29.71.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for June delivery was up 1.93% or 1.93 to $101.69 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in July rose 2.00% or 2.05 to hit $104.51 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.32% or 5.83 to trade at $1,846.83 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.34% to 129.99, while EUR/JPY fell 0.09% to 137.18.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 103.71.