Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Precision Instruments, Transportation Equipment and Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.88% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Itochu Corp. (TYO:8001), which rose 4.50% or 274.00 points to trade at 6,365.00 at the close. KDDI Corp. (TYO:9433) added 4.21% or 196.00 points to end at 4,851.00 and Hitachi Ltd (TYO:6501) was up 4.20% or 445.00 points to 11,045.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd. (TYO:9064), which lost 3.85% or 106.00 points to trade at 2,646.00 in late trade. Rakuten Inc (TYO:4755) declined 2.44% or 16.10 points to end at 643.70 and SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. (TYO:9412) shed 1.65% or 12.00 points to 717.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2064 to 1611 and 219 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 4.01% to 19.20.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.74% or 0.53 to $71.90 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.77% or 0.59 to hit $77.39 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.53% or 10.70 to trade at $2,038.50 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.20% to 145.43, while EUR/JPY fell 0.13% to 159.74.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 101.96.