Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.24%

Japan equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Banking, Automobiles & Parts and Marine Transport sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.24%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201), which rose 7.68% or 42.90 points to trade at 601.50 at the close. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (TYO:9107) added 6.27% or 249.00 points to end at 4,218.00 and Mazda Motor Corp (TYO:7261) was up 5.60% or 71.50 points to 1,349.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included CyberAgent Inc (TYO:4751), which lost 1.95% or 20.50 points to trade at 1,031.00 in late trade. Dentsu Inc. (TYO:4324) declined 1.56% or 74.00 points to end at 4,665.00 and Mizuho Financial Group Inc (TYO:8411) shed 0.42% or 9.50 points to 2,265.00.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2949 to 686 and 222 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.59% to 20.37.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was down 0.21% or 0.16 to $75.50 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September fell 0.09% or 0.07 to hit $79.56 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.08% or 1.65 to trade at $1,982.45 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.44% to 139.41, while EUR/JPY rose 0.45% to 156.59.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 99.75.