Investing.com – Japan stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gas & Water, Power and Food sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.27%.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Toshiba Corp. (T:6502), which rose 7.67% or 17.8 points to trade at 249.9 at the close. Meanwhile, Pioneer Corp. (T:6773) added 5.02% or 16.0 points to end at 335.0 and Sharp Corp. (T:6753) was up 4.17% or 5.0 points to 125.0 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506), which fell 4.22% or 63.0 points to trade at 1431.0 at the close. Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T:7735) declined 2.50% or 23.0 points to end at 898.0 and Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. (T:4151) was down 1.59% or 31.0 points to 1915.0.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1241 to 634.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.51% to 19.47.
Crude oil for February delivery was down 1.76% or 0.67 to $37.20 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.52% or 0.20 to hit $37.41 a barrel, while the February Gold contract rose 0.15% or 1.60 to trade at $1069.60 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.05% to 120.39, while EUR/JPY rose 0.04% to 131.63.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.01% at 98.24.