Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Shipbuilding, Banking and Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (T:8316), which rose 8.55% or 284.0 points to trade at 3604.0 at the close. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (T:9104) added 8.44% or 19.0 points to end at 244.0 and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (TO) (T:8306) was up 7.91% or 40.4 points to 551.3 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Central Japan Railway Co. (T:9022), which lost 3.13% or 650.0 points to trade at 20100.0 in late trade. Comsys Holdings Corp. (T:1721) declined 2.59% or 44.0 points to end at 1652.0 and Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (T:5232) shed 2.41% or 10.0 points to 405.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1390 to 427 and 74 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.27% to 29.67.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was down 0.14% or 0.05 to $34.61 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 0.46% or 0.17 to hit $36.76 a barrel, while the April Gold contract rose 0.01% or 0.10 to trade at $1241.90 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.55% to 114.09, while EUR/JPY rose 0.47% to 123.90.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.12% at 98.32.