Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.19%

Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.19% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (T:5232), which rose 8.62% or 290.0 points to trade at 3655.0 at the close. Honda Motor Co Ltd (T:7267) added 5.14% or 153.0 points to end at 3130.0 and Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (T:4901) was up 4.74% or 294.0 points to 6498.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366), which lost 8.92% or 43.0 points to trade at 439.0 in late trade. Japan Tobacco Inc (T:2914) declined 7.46% or 160.5 points to end at 1990.5 and Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (T:5233) shed 6.55% or 183.0 points to 2612.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1841 to 1682 and 220 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 21.34.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.14% or 0.08 to $58.28 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 0.26% or 0.16 to hit $61.06 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 0.51% or 9.40 to trade at $1846.90 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.05% to 104.52, while EUR/JPY rose 0.06% to 126.78.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 90.350.