Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.89%

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 added 0.89% to hit a new 3-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Softbank Group Corp. (T:9984), which rose 4.64% or 322.0 points to trade at 7265.0 at the close. Nikon Corp. (T:7731) added 4.18% or 51.0 points to end at 1270.0 and Rakuten Inc (T:4755) was up 3.89% or 43.0 points to 1147.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411), which lost 1.94% or 37.0 points to trade at 1875.0 in late trade. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (T:4519) declined 1.86% or 82.0 points to end at 4327.0 and Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (T:9062) shed 1.48% or 120.0 points to 8010.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2441 to 1048 and 269 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 20.40.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for October delivery was up 0.54% or 0.37 to $68.72 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in November rose 0.38% or 0.27 to hit $71.96 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.26% or 4.65 to trade at $1803.15 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.05% to 110.21, while EUR/JPY fell 0.01% to 130.52.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 92.558.