Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.56%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp , Transportation Equipment and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.56%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T: 7211 ), which rose 4.69% or 18.0 points to trade at 402.0 at the close. Mazda Motor Corp (T: 7261 ) added 3.90% or 41.0 points to end at 1093.0 and Yokohama Rubber Co Ltd (T: 5101 ) was up 3.77% or 72.0 points to 1982.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (T: 9062 ), which lost 5.80% or 420.0 points to trade at 6820.0 in late trade. Ebara Corp. (T: 6361 ) declined 5.01% or 320.0 points to end at 6070.0 and Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (T: 7912 ) shed 3.89% or 114.0 points to 2814.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1852 to 1699 and 223 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.24% to 19.11 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 1.34% or 1.07 to $78.62 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in January fell 1.45% or 1.19 to hit $80.98 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract fell 0.27% or 5.00 to trade at $1863.50 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.01% to 113.86, while EUR/JPY fell 0.01% to 130.38.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 95.047.