Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 2.44%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Machinery , Insurance and Banking sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 2.44%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Pioneer Corp. (T: 6773 ), which rose 16.93% or 32.0 points to trade at 221.0 at the close. DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 5714 ) added 16.03% or 88.0 points to end at 637.0 and NTN Corp. (T: 6472 ) was up 10.88% or 36.0 points to 367.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Comsys Holdings Corp. (T: 1721 ), which lost 5.98% or 110.0 points to trade at 1729.0 in late trade. Toyobo Co., Ltd. (T: 3101 ) declined 5.85% or 10.0 points to end at 161.0 and Taisei Corp. (T: 1801 ) shed 4.45% or 36.5 points to 783.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1447 to 533 and 78 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 7.53% to 19.89 a new 6-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was up 0.53% or 0.22 to $42.02 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in October rose 0.38% or 0.17 to hit $44.44 a barrel, while the December Gold contract fell 0.38% or 5.10 to trade at $1339.30 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.34% to 102.14, while EUR/JPY rose 0.19% to 113.22.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.08% at 96.27.