Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Retail, Transportation Equipment and Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kobe Steel, Ltd. (TYO:5406), which rose 5.34% or 55.00 points to trade at 1,085.00 at the close. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (TYO:8306) added 4.68% or 38.50 points to end at 861.50 and Resona Holdings, Inc. (TYO:8308) was up 4.14% or 26.30 points to 662.30 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Keio Corp. (TYO:9008), which lost 3.75% or 180.00 points to trade at 4,615.00 in late trade. East Japan Railway Co. (TYO:9020) declined 2.37% or 177.00 points to end at 7,302.00 and CyberAgent Inc (TYO:4751) shed 2.01% or 22.00 points to 1,075.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2734 to 888 and 193 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 15.64% to 21.52 a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 1.29% or 0.92 to $72.25 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 1.21% or 0.94 to hit $78.39 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.47% or 8.95 to trade at $1,901.95 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.53% to 134.93, while EUR/JPY rose 0.56% to 144.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 103.33.