Investing.com – Japan stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Transport, Pharmaceutical Industry and Transportation Equipment sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.38%.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411), which rose 5.54% or 98.5 points to trade at 1877.0 at the close. Meanwhile, Nippon Steel&Sumitomo Metal Corp. (T:5401) added 4.48% or 117.5 points to end at 2741.4 and SUMCO Corp. (T:3436) was up 4.36% or 64.0 points to 1532.0 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. (T:8830), which fell 2.54% or 81.0 points to trade at 3104.0 at the close. Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (T:8801) declined 2.25% or 62.0 points to end at 2699.5 and Konami Corp. (T:9766) was down 2.07% or 100.0 points to 4735.0.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1642 to 1363 and 349 ended unchanged.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 2.86% to 20.53.
Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.30% or 0.15 to $50.97 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.22% or 0.12 to hit $53.76 a barrel, while the February Gold contract rose 0.34% or 4.05 to trade at $1189.55 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.20% to 116.00, while EUR/JPY rose 0.25% to 122.48.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.02% at 102.03.