Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Retail and Chemical sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.17%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Eisai Co., Ltd. (T:4523), which rose 8.01% or 798.0 points to trade at 10760.0 at the close. Softbank Corp. (T:9984) added 6.36% or 560.0 points to end at 9366.0 and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506) was up 4.49% or 106.0 points to 2466.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pacific Metals Co., Ltd. (T:5541), which lost 3.94% or 135.0 points to trade at 3295.0 in late trade. Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366) declined 3.68% or 34.0 points to end at 891.0 and JX Holdings, Inc. (T:5020) shed 3.60% or 28.6 points to 765.2.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1942 to 1391 and 229 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 9.87% to 17.70.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.80% or 0.56 to $70.94 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 1.96% or 1.44 to hit $74.84 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.07% or 0.90 to trade at $1245.30 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.33% to 112.36, while EUR/JPY rose 0.43% to 131.31.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 94.47.