Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Glass, Insurance and Paper & Pulp sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 3.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kobe Steel, Ltd. (T:5406), which rose 8.26% or 9.0 points to trade at 118.0 at the close. NGK Insulators, Ltd. (T:5333) added 7.34% or 147.0 points to end at 2151.0 and Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. (T:4151) was up 6.19% or 112.0 points to 1921.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included SUMCO Corp. (T:3436), which lost 4.16% or 30.0 points to trade at 691.0 in late trade. Toyobo Co., Ltd. (T:3101) declined 0.51% or 1.0 points to end at 196.0 and Yamaha Corp. (T:7951) shed 0.30% or 10.0 points to 3305.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1766 to 120 and 29 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.41% to 26.11.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 1.72% or 0.72 to $41.04 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 1.61% or 0.71 to hit $43.47 a barrel, while the June Gold contract fell 0.96% or 12.00 to trade at $1236.30 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.14% to 109.49, while EUR/JPY rose 0.03% to 123.32.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.21% at 95.01.