Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 2.66%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 2.66% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506), which rose 16.47% or 213.0 points to trade at 1506.0 at the close. IHI Corp. (T:7013) added 6.17% or 119.0 points to end at 2047.0 and Yokogawa Electric Corp. (T:6841) was up 5.11% or 103.0 points to 2120.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Japan Tobacco Inc (T:2914), which lost 4.39% or 96.0 points to trade at 2090.0 in late trade. Hitachi Zosen Corp. (T:7004) declined 2.20% or 13.0 points to end at 578.0 and Inpex Corp. (T:1605) shed 1.92% or 11.0 points to 562.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2962 to 638 and 146 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 19.40.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.80% or 0.38 to $48.00 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.73% or 0.37 to hit $51.27 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.07% or 1.40 to trade at $1881.80 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.10% to 103.67, while EUR/JPY rose 0.17% to 126.99.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.31% at 89.993.