Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Insurance, Paper & Pulp and Banking sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.66%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nisshinbo Holdings Inc. (T:3105), which rose 13.34% or 185.0 points to trade at 1572.0 at the close. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (T:3099) added 7.00% or 85.0 points to end at 1299.0 and Marui Group Co., Ltd. (T:8252) was up 6.15% or 115.0 points to 1986.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T:6506), which lost 5.71% or 300.0 points to trade at 4950.0 in late trade. Minebea Mitsumi Inc (T:6479) declined 3.32% or 76.0 points to end at 2215.0 and Softbank Corp. (T:9984) shed 3.24% or 318.5 points to 9497.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1695 to 1595 and 208 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.46% to 17.45.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.30% or 0.17 to $57.47 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.37% or 0.23 to hit $62.76 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.02% or 0.31 to trade at $1282.41 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.29% to 112.25, while EUR/JPY rose 0.47% to 133.22.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 93.14.