Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Machinery, Shipbuilding and Chemical sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.88% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T:5301), which rose 5.61% or 27.0 points to trade at 508.0 at the close. Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. (T:5706) added 5.20% or 20.0 points to end at 404.5 and Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T:5707) was up 4.25% or 25.0 points to 613.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Showa Denko K.K. (T:4004), which lost 7.11% or 144.0 points to trade at 1880.0 in late trade. Rakuten Inc (T:4755) declined 2.19% or 24.5 points to end at 1094.5 and Mazda Motor Corp. (T:7261) shed 1.33% or 22.0 points to 1627.5.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2144 to 864 and 352 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 4.61% to 17.81.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was down 0.26% or 0.14 to $53.69 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 0.11% or 0.06 to hit $56.30 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.28% or 3.55 to trade at $1246.45 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.33% to 114.11, while EUR/JPY rose 0.23% to 120.23.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 101.87.