Japan stocks higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.15%
Japan stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Transportation Equipment and Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.15% to hit a new 3-months high.
The best performers 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. Meanwhile, 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.
The worst performers of the session were J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (TYO:3086), which fell 2.41% or 31.50 points to trade at 1,278.00 at the close. 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) was down 0.52% or 10.00 points to 1,920.50.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2911 to 795 and 190 ended unchanged.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.73% to 17.10.
Crude oil for February delivery was down 0.12% or 0.09 to $75.48 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.07% or 0.06 to hit $80.91 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.38% or 7.80 to trade at $2,077.60 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.20% to 142.67, while EUR/JPY rose 0.20% to 157.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 101.11.