Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Precision Instruments, Marine Transport and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.84% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984), which rose 4.82% or 241.00 points to trade at 5,240.00 at the close. Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TYO:7735) added 3.62% or 440.00 points to end at 12,580.00 and Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) was up 3.51% or 450.00 points to 13,260.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:4506), which lost 5.22% or 39.00 points to trade at 708.00 in late trade. Yaskawa Electric Corp. (TYO:6506) declined 4.19% or 240.00 points to end at 5,490.00 and Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (TYO:5202) shed 3.89% or 26.00 points to 643.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2004 to 1617 and 231 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 7.15% to 17.24 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for June delivery was down 1.06% or 0.75 to $70.11 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in July fell 1.00% or 0.75 to hit $74.16 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.01% or 0.10 to trade at $1,992.90 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.35% to 136.86, while EUR/JPY rose 0.18% to 148.42.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.26% at 102.68.