Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Power, Finance & Investment and Shipbuilding sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.45% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T:9501), which rose 17.78% or 81.0 points to trade at 536.5 at the close. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T:7211) added 6.38% or 37.0 points to end at 616.5 and Fujitsu Ltd. (T:6702) was up 6.18% or 41.6 points to 714.8 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (T:4507), which lost 5.08% or 263.0 points to trade at 4913.0 in late trade. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506) declined 3.91% or 71.0 points to end at 1746.0 and Dentsu Inc. (T:4324) shed 3.02% or 155.0 points to 4975.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1996 to 1047 and 309 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 5.32% to 18.20.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.18% or 0.09 to $49.68 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.25% or 0.13 to hit $52.87 a barrel, while the February Gold contract rose 0.06% or 0.65 to trade at $1178.15 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.20% to 113.54, while EUR/JPY fell 0.11% to 122.21.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.12% at 100.16.