Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.59%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Insurance , Gas & Water and Transportation Equipment sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.59%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nippon Steel&Sumitomo Metal Corp. (T: 5401 ), which rose 6.37% or 118.5 points to trade at 1979.5 at the close. Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. (T: 8766 ) added 6.37% or 201.0 points to end at 3355.0 and JFE Holdings, Inc. (T: 5411 ) was up 6.28% or 78.0 points to 1320.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (T: 3086 ), which lost 4.29% or 48.0 points to trade at 1071.0 in late trade. Maruha Nichiro Corp (T: 1333 ) declined 3.57% or 104.0 points to end at 2807.0 and Uny Group Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 8270 ) shed 3.05% or 27.0 points to 858.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1664 to 275 and 60 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 11.75% to 29.44.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.82% or 0.39 to $48.24 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.59% or 0.29 to hit $49.55 a barrel, while the August Gold contract rose 0.47% or 6.25 to trade at $1324.15 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.46% to 102.30, while EUR/JPY fell 0.36% to 113.30.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.11% at 96.08.