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 1.60%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Hitachi Zosen Corp. (T:7004), which rose 13.68% or 80.0 points to trade at 665.0 at the close. Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366) added 8.91% or 27.0 points to end at 330.0 and JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) was up 7.79% or 79.0 points to 1093.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Shiseido Co., Ltd. (T:4911), which lost 1.98% or 135.0 points to trade at 6700.0 in late trade. Softbank Group Corp. (T:9984) declined 1.56% or 127.0 points to end at 7993.0 and Z Holdings Corp (T:4689) shed 1.51% or 10.4 points to 679.6.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2472 to 1075 and 192 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 21.72.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.97% or 0.49 to $51.12 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.81% or 0.44 to hit $54.74 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.89% or 16.90 to trade at $1925.50 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.29% to 103.34, while EUR/JPY rose 0.21% to 127.27.
The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 89.502.