Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Banking, Mining and Insurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.08%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were DIC Corp (TYO:4631), which rose 5.47% or 147.50 points to trade at 2,842.50 at the close. Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (TYO:3863) added 4.94% or 65.00 points to end at 1,381.00 and Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (TYO:5711) was up 3.57% or 93.50 points to 2,712.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Recruit Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:6098), which lost 2.97% or 181.00 points to trade at 5,914.00 in late trade. Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (TYO:4507) declined 2.39% or 175.00 points to end at 7,157.00 and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TYO:4519) shed 2.13% or 119.00 points to 5,455.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2519 to 1126 and 245 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.84% to 21.06.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.52% or 0.39 to $75.48 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.46% or 0.37 to hit $80.41 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.04% or 0.85 to trade at $2,015.15 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.21% to 147.82, while EUR/JPY rose 0.19% to 160.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 103.11.