Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gas & Water, Machinery and Fishery sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.61%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Showa Denko K.K. (T:4004), which rose 5.00% or 225.0 points to trade at 4725.0 at the close. Softbank Corp. (T:9984) added 4.64% or 383.0 points to end at 8641.0 and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (T:4502) was up 4.46% or 192.0 points to 4494.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506), which lost 4.39% or 105.0 points to trade at 2287.0 in late trade. Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (T:8354) declined 3.83% or 22.0 points to end at 552.0 and The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (T:8331) shed 3.78% or 31.0 points to 790.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1853 to 1488 and 212 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 12.38% to 17.34.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was down 0.91% or 0.60 to $65.11 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August fell 1.35% or 1.01 to hit $73.73 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 0.71% or 9.00 to trade at $1265.50 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.22% to 110.60, while EUR/JPY rose 0.04% to 127.77.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23% at 95.00.