Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.25%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Services , Fishery and Trading sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.25%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Olympus Corp. (T: 7733 ), which rose 4.31% or 100.00 points to trade at 2,420.50 at the close. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T: 4506 ) added 3.95% or 49.00 points to end at 1,290.00 and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (T: 4507 ) was up 3.89% or 282.00 points to 7,523.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T: 7735 ), which lost 2.94% or 360.00 points to trade at 11,870.00 in late trade. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (T: 3099 ) declined 2.74% or 27.00 points to end at 960.00 and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T: 8035 ) shed 2.66% or 1,640.00 points to 60,040.00.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2378 to 1173 and 231 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.23% to 21.27 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 1.01% or 1.00 to $100.27 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 1.03% or 1.08 to hit $105.47 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.34% or 6.50 to trade at $1,930.20 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.09% to 122.61, while EUR/JPY fell 0.08% to 135.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 98.61.