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 0.85% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nikon Corp. (T:7731), which rose 7.21% or 54.0 points to trade at 803.0 at the close. Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T:6506) added 5.30% or 300.0 points to end at 5960.0 and Bridgestone Corp. (T:5108) was up 5.12% or 190.0 points to 3900.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included GS Yuasa Corp. (T:6674), which lost 5.02% or 165.0 points to trade at 3120.0 in late trade. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107) declined 4.70% or 104.0 points to end at 2110.0 and JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) shed 4.70% or 51.0 points to 1035.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2041 to 1495 and 212 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 21.48.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.26% or 0.14 to $53.05 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.11% or 0.06 to hit $56.12 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.82% or 15.30 to trade at $1839.60 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.19% to 104.05, while EUR/JPY rose 0.11% to 126.39.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 90.358.