Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.44%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Rubber , Glass and Shipbuilding sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.44%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (T: 5711 ), which rose 5.70% or 205.0 points to trade at 3802.4 at the close. Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T: 5707 ) added 4.87% or 29.0 points to end at 624.0 and Inpex Corp. (T: 1605 ) was up 4.85% or 53.5 points to 1156.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Amada Co., Ltd. (T: 6113 ), which lost 4.69% or 63.0 points to trade at 1279.0 in late trade. Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 7762 ) declined 3.89% or 28.0 points to end at 692.0 and The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (T: 8331 ) shed 2.40% or 19.0 points to 773.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2177 to 868 and 308 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.58% to 18.53.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.17% or 0.09 to $53.77 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 0.09% or 0.05 to hit $56.65 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.28% or 3.45 to trade at $1232.45 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.37% to 113.61, while EUR/JPY rose 0.33% to 120.80.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 100.79.