Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Construction, Paper & Pulp and Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Toshiba Corp. (T:6502), which rose 6.75% or 13.1 points to trade at 207.2 at the close. Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T:5301) added 4.20% or 20.0 points to end at 496.0 and Nippon Meat Packers, Inc. (T:2282) was up 3.39% or 105.0 points to 3205.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included DeNA Co Ltd (T:2432), which lost 5.45% or 138.0 points to trade at 2392.0 in late trade. The Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (T:5631) declined 2.44% or 46.0 points to end at 1843.0 and Concordia Financial Group Ltd (T:7186) shed 1.90% or 10.3 points to 531.7.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1634 to 1383 and 325 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 19.63% to 18.65.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 0.50% or 0.24 to $48.28 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.45% or 0.23 to hit $50.87 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.22% or 2.75 to trade at $1246.95 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.03% to 111.19, while EUR/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 120.02.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 99.52.