Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Transportation Equipment, Paper & Pulp and Railway & Bus sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.44%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Oji Holdings Corp. (TOKYO:3861), which rose 3.86% or 21.0 points to trade at 565.0 at the close. Uny Group Holdings Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:8270) added 3.75% or 31.0 points to end at 858.0 and Kao Corp. (TOKYO:4452) was up 3.72% or 229.0 points to 6393.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Eisai Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:4523), which lost 5.86% or 518.0 points to trade at 8320.0 in late trade. SUMCO Corp. (TOKYO:3436) declined 5.54% or 77.0 points to end at 1313.0 and Sharp Corp. (TOKYO:6753) shed 4.02% or 7.0 points to 167.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1279 to 603 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.20% to 17.24.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was up 0.13% or 0.07 to $49.26 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September fell 0.12% or 0.07 to hit $56.06 a barrel, while the August Gold contract rose 0.44% or 4.80 to trade at $1096.30 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.04% to 124.03, while EUR/JPY rose 0.03% to 135.50.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.03% at 97.59.