Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Shipbuilding, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Transportation Equipment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 3.88%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366), which rose 10.11% or 28.0 points to trade at 305.0 at the close. Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. (T:5002) added 8.06% or 116.0 points to end at 1555.0 and JX Holdings, Inc. (T:5020) was up 8.06% or 44.1 points to 591.4 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nisshin Steel Holdings Co., Ltd. (T:5413), which unchanged 0.00% or 0.0 points to trade at 1258.0 in late trade. Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. (T:4021) added 1.26% or 70.0 points to end at 5610.0 and Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (T:9983) gained 1.31% or 730.0 points to 56620.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 3615 to 92 and 33 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 4.16% to 30.91.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was down 1.87% or 0.87 to $45.74 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 2.24% or 1.24 to hit $54.05 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.21% or 2.70 to trade at $1272.45 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.41% to 110.91, while EUR/JPY fell 0.07% to 126.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 96.357.