Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Transportation Equipment, Pharmaceutical Industry and Textile sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.53%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (T:4568), which rose 5.29% or 208.0 points to trade at 4137.0 at the close. Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. (T:5706) added 5.20% or 265.0 points to end at 5365.0 and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506) was up 4.56% or 87.0 points to 1993.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Kajima Corp. (T:1812), which lost 2.25% or 22.0 points to trade at 955.0 in late trade. Nippon Light Metal Holdings Co. (T:5703) declined 2.05% or 6.0 points to end at 286.0 and Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (T:6770) shed 1.96% or 53.0 points to 2647.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2003 to 1371 and 195 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 5.56% to 15.20.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for June delivery was up 0.41% or 0.29 to $71.78 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in July rose 0.37% or 0.29 to hit $79.57 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.33% or 4.30 to trade at $1287.20 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.24% to 110.66, while EUR/JPY rose 0.30% to 130.74.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 93.23.