Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Insurance, Gas & Water and Transportation Equipment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.59%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nippon Steel&Sumitomo Metal Corp. (T:5401), which rose 6.37% or 118.5 points to trade at 1979.5 at the close. Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. (T:8766) added 6.37% or 201.0 points to end at 3355.0 and JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) was up 6.28% or 78.0 points to 1320.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (T:3086), which lost 4.29% or 48.0 points to trade at 1071.0 in late trade. Maruha Nichiro Corp (T:1333) declined 3.57% or 104.0 points to end at 2807.0 and Uny Group Holdings Co., Ltd. (T:8270) shed 3.05% or 27.0 points to 858.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1664 to 275 and 60 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 11.75% to 29.44.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.82% or 0.39 to $48.24 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.59% or 0.29 to hit $49.55 a barrel, while the August Gold contract rose 0.47% or 6.25 to trade at $1324.15 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.46% to 102.30, while EUR/JPY fell 0.36% to 113.30.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.11% at 96.08.