Japan stocks closed higher; Nikkei 225 up 0.35%

Japan stocks closed higher on Tuesday as gains in Railway & Bus, Paper & Pulp, and Real Estate sectors took the lead.

In Tokyo, at the close, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.35. Nikkei’s top performers were Taiyo Yuden Co., which rose 3.66% or 10.3.0 points to trade at 2914.0 at the close.

Meanwhile, TDK Corp added 3.65% or 410.0 points to end at 11650.0. Advantest Corp. was up 3.63% or 190.0 points to 5430.0 in late trade.

The worst performers were Showa Denko K.K., which fell 6.00% or 185.0 points to trade at 2900.0 at the close. Shimizu Corp. declined 3.94% or 43.0 points to end at 1049.0. Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. was also down 2.99% or 160.0 points to 5200.0.

Dropping stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1825 to 1712, and 241 ended unchanged.

Shares in TDK Corp rose to 52-week highs; up 3.65% or 410.0 to 11650.0.

The Nikkei Volatility, was unchanged 0.00% to 14.84. It measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options.

Crude oil for January delivery dropped 0.14% or 0.08 to $57.93 a barrel.

Commodities trading

In commodities trading, the Brent oil for delivery in February dropped 0.11% or 0.07 to hit $62.55 a barrel. The February Gold Futures contract fell 0.09% or 1.25 to trade at $1462.55 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.06% to 108.97, while EUR/JPY rose 0.09% to 120.04.

The US Dollar Index Futures dropped 0.02% at 98.222.