Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.04%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp , Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.04% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T: 5301 ), which rose 8.83% or 120.0 points to trade at 1479.0 at the close. Showa Denko K.K. (T: 4004 ) added 5.99% or 138.0 points to end at 2441.0 and Advantest Corp. (T: 6857 ) was up 5.45% or 450.0 points to 8710.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Toho Co., Ltd. (T: 9602 ), which lost 6.73% or 300.0 points to trade at 4155.0 in late trade. Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (T: 9532 ) declined 3.78% or 82.0 points to end at 2089.0 and Kansai Electric Power Co Inc (T: 9503 ) shed 3.74% or 39.5 points to 1017.5.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1992 to 1524 and 222 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 21.48.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.71% or 0.38 to $53.59 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.72% or 0.41 to hit $56.99 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.93% or 17.20 to trade at $1861.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.12% to 103.62, while EUR/JPY rose 0.01% to 126.64.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 89.903.