Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Retail, Power and Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.67%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:6770), which rose 6.54% or 240.0 points to trade at 3910.0 at the close. Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp (TOKYO:4188) added 5.25% or 40.1 points to end at 804.6 and Sony Financial Holdings Inc. (TOKYO:8729) was up 3.92% or 91.0 points to 2414.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:7735), which lost 4.49% or 34.0 points to trade at 724.0 in late trade. Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:6767) declined 4.47% or 38.0 points to end at 813.0 and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TOKYO:8035) shed 3.20% or 259.0 points to 7828.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1261 to 621 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 7.57% to 16.60 a new 6-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.63% or 0.33 to $51.73 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.32% or 0.18 to hit $57.30 a barrel, while the August Gold contract fell 0.09% or 1.00 to trade at $1146.40 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.05% to 123.82, while EUR/JPY fell 0.05% to 135.44.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.08% at 97.37.