Japan stocks higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.55%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the rose 0.55%.

The best performers of the session on the were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:), which rose 6.07% or 35.00 points to trade at 612.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Renesas Electronics Corp (TYO:) added 4.23% or 83.00 points to end at 2,045.00 and Sony Corp (TYO:) was up 4.12% or 132.00 points to 3,338.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Fujikura Ltd. (TYO:), which fell 5.45% or 337.00 points to trade at 5,851.00 at the close. Takara Holdings Inc. (TYO:) declined 2.10% or 27.50 points to end at 1,284.50 and Nintendo Co Ltd (TYO:) was down 1.94% or 179.00 points to 9,037.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1863 to 1669 and 327 ended unchanged.

Shares in Sony Corp (TYO:) rose to all time highs; gaining 4.12% or 132.00 to 3,338.00.

The , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.10% to 22.92.

Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.48% or 0.33 to $68.04 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.43% or 0.31 to hit $71.83 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.21% or 5.51 to trade at $2,691.31 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.04% to 151.24, while EUR/JPY rose 0.12% to 159.77.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 105.76.