Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Shipbuilding, Automobiles & Parts and Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (TYO:3086), which rose 8.27% or 165.00 points to trade at 2,159.00 at the close. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (TYO:3099) added 7.60% or 191.50 points to end at 2,711.50 and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201) was up 6.58% or 34.10 points to 552.40 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Rakuten Inc (TYO:4755), which lost 2.09% or 18.20 points to trade at 851.30 in late trade. Eisai Co., Ltd. (TYO:4523) declined 1.24% or 53.00 points to end at 4,224.00 and Nitori Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:9843) shed 0.79% or 145.00 points to 18,295.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2436 to 1226 and 237 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 16.16% to 18.31 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.10% or 0.07 to $70.17 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.07% or 0.05 to hit $73.22 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.22% or 5.71 to trade at $2,641.21 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.02% to 157.37, while EUR/JPY fell 0.07% to 163.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 107.95.