Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Transport, Food and Transportation Equipment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Asahi Kasei Corp. (T:3407), which rose 5.44% or 73.0 points to trade at 1414.0 at the close. Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T:8035) added 4.89% or 980.0 points to end at 21020.0 and SUMCO Corp. (T:3436) was up 4.74% or 127.0 points to 2808.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366), which lost 6.57% or 52.0 points to trade at 740.0 in late trade. JGC Corp. (T:1963) declined 2.19% or 44.0 points to end at 1966.0 and NTN Corp. (T:6472) shed 2.05% or 11.0 points to 525.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2724 to 604 and 177 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 6.25% to 17.84.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.09% or 0.05 to $55.91 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.11% or 0.07 to hit $61.29 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.43% or 5.40 to trade at $1260.70 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.23% to 112.53, while EUR/JPY rose 0.25% to 132.75.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 93.61.