Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Transportation Equipment, Financial Services and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.95%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sharp Corp. (TOKYO:6753), which rose 8.61% or 13.0 points to trade at 164.0 at the close. Tokyu Fudosan (TOKYO:3289) added 4.38% or 42.0 points to end at 1001.0 and Sony Financial Holdings Inc. (TOKYO:8729) was up 3.87% or 86.0 points to 2307.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included SUMCO Corp. (TOKYO:3436), which lost 2.71% or 42.0 points to trade at 1507.0 in late trade. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (TOKYO:7012) declined 2.43% or 14.0 points to end at 563.0 and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (TOKYO:7011) shed 2.29% or 17.2 points to 734.1.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1320 to 562 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 4.95% to 19.40.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.38% or 0.21 to $57.17 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August rose 0.58% or 0.36 to hit $62.37 a barrel, while the August Gold contract fell 0.38% or 4.40 to trade at $1164.90 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.20% to 123.42, while EUR/JPY rose 0.43% to 136.74.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.13% at 96.35.