Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.34%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Softbank Group Corp. (T:9984), which rose 3.36% or 180.0 points to trade at 5531.0 at the close. Oji Holdings Corp. (T:3861) added 3.29% or 19.0 points to end at 597.0 and Inpex Corp. (T:1605) was up 2.88% or 30.0 points to 1072.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. (T:3382), which lost 8.75% or 376.0 points to trade at 3920.0 in late trade. Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd. (T:8804) declined 3.15% or 56.0 points to end at 1724.0 and JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) shed 2.81% or 32.0 points to 1108.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2139 to 1383 and 255 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 17.04.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 0.58% or 0.31 to $53.80 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.27% or 0.16 to hit $59.28 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.16% or 2.55 to trade at $1609.25 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.39% to 111.78, while EUR/JPY rose 0.22% to 120.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 99.727.