Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Banking, Insurance and Finance & Investment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.40%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (TYO:5202), which rose 7.59% or 45.00 points to trade at 638.00 at the close. Rakuten Inc (TYO:4755) added 6.48% or 38.00 points to end at 624.00 and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) was up 4.01% or 1,540.00 points to 39,950.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (TYO:8354), which lost 3.50% or 107.00 points to trade at 2,953.00 in late trade. Resona Holdings, Inc. (TYO:8308) declined 3.32% or 24.70 points to end at 719.50 and Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc (TYO:8750) shed 3.05% or 93.00 points to 2,959.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2173 to 1401 and 259 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.36% to 20.19.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 1.06% or 0.77 to $73.61 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.96% or 0.75 to hit $78.59 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.03% or 0.55 to trade at $1,859.55 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.14% to 132.43, while EUR/JPY fell 0.05% to 140.50.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 104.06.