Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Steel, Retail and Paper & Pulp sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.63% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. (TYO:3382), which rose 4.09% or 259.00 points to trade at 6,589.00 at the close. Resona Holdings, Inc. (TYO:8308) added 3.93% or 30.00 points to end at 793.00 and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (TYO:2802) was up 3.50% or 152.00 points to 4,500.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (TYO:5202), which lost 2.57% or 19.00 points to trade at 720.00 in late trade. Konica Minolta, Inc. (TYO:4902) declined 1.67% or 10.00 points to end at 588.00 and Toray Industries, Inc. (TYO:3402) shed 1.05% or 8.40 points to 788.40.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2428 to 1114 and 294 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.89% to 16.19.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was down 0.10% or 0.08 to $76.58 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 0.07% or 0.06 to hit $82.60 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.00% or 0.05 to trade at $1,818.55 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.48% to 136.68, while EUR/JPY fell 0.36% to 144.29.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 105.50.