Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Transportation Equipment and Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.15% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:4506), which rose 5.61% or 25.00 points to trade at 471.00 at the close. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (TYO:9107) added 5.31% or 320.00 points to end at 6,350.00 and SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) was up 4.23% or 258.00 points to 6,357.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (TYO:3086), which lost 2.41% or 31.50 points to trade at 1,278.00 in late trade. Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (TYO:3863) declined 0.79% or 10.00 points to end at 1,254.00 and Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (TYO:8233) shed 0.52% or 10.00 points to 1,920.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2911 to 795 and 190 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.73% to 17.10.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was down 0.09% or 0.07 to $75.50 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.11% or 0.09 to hit $80.94 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.39% or 8.15 to trade at $2,077.95 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.20% to 142.66, while EUR/JPY rose 0.20% to 157.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 101.11.