Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Insurance, Glass and Banking sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.71% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (TYO:7211), which rose 4.30% or 22.00 points to trade at 534.00 at the close. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201) added 4.10% or 20.10 points to end at 509.80 and Mazda Motor Corp (TYO:7261) was up 3.69% or 41.00 points to 1,151.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sapporo Holdings Ltd. (TYO:2501), which lost 3.59% or 115.00 points to trade at 3,085.00 in late trade. Aozora Bank, Ltd. (TYO:8304) declined 1.72% or 46.00 points to end at 2,630.00 and Pacific Metals Co., Ltd. (TYO:5541) shed 1.65% or 33.00 points to 1,968.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2569 to 992 and 249 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.43% to 15.14 a new 3-year low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.88% or 0.69 to $79.28 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.63% or 0.54 to hit $85.92 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 0.21% or 3.95 to trade at $1,849.25 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.21% to 133.82, while EUR/JPY fell 0.07% to 143.27.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 103.60.