Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.22%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Eisai Co., Ltd. (T:4523), which rose 6.76% or 434.0 points to trade at 6850.0 at the close. Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. (T:4151) added 5.11% or 86.0 points to end at 1768.0 and Shimizu Corp. (T:1803) was up 4.29% or 39.0 points to 949.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Casio Computer Co., Ltd. (T:6952), which lost 6.72% or 150.0 points to trade at 2081.0 in late trade. NTN Corp. (T:6472) declined 5.06% or 16.0 points to end at 300.0 and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (T:3099) shed 4.85% or 59.0 points to 1157.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 990 to 767 and 149 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.53% to 28.31.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 1.09% or 0.41 to $38.16 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.90% or 0.36 to hit $40.20 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 0.56% or 6.90 to trade at $1230.70 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.87% to 108.83, while EUR/JPY fell 0.46% to 124.56.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.42% at 94.09.