Japan stocks higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.15%

Investing.com – Japan stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the , and sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the added 1.15% to hit a new 3-months high.

The best performers of the session on the were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:), which rose 5.61% or 25.00 points to trade at 471.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (TYO:) added 5.31% or 320.00 points to end at 6,350.00 and SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:) 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:), which fell 2.41% or 31.50 points to trade at 1,278.00 at the close. Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (TYO:) declined 0.79% or 10.00 points to end at 1,254.00 and Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (TYO:) 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 , 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.