Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Machinery, Communication and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.02%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506), which rose 18.30% or 502.0 points to trade at 3245.0 at the close. Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T:6506) added 6.24% or 210.0 points to end at 3575.0 and Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (T:6976) was up 5.54% or 113.0 points to 2154.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Familymart Ltd (T:8028), which lost 7.07% or 1270.0 points to trade at 16700.0 in late trade. Olympus Corp. (T:7733) declined 3.26% or 110.0 points to end at 3260.0 and Suzuki Motor Corp. (T:7269) shed 2.94% or 160.0 points to 5278.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2330 to 1161 and 201 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.13% to 20.63.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.99% or 0.51 to $52.07 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.84% or 0.51 to hit $60.91 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.06% or 0.70 to trade at $1219.20 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.06% to 113.85, while EUR/JPY fell 0.06% to 128.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 97.415.