Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Retail, Insurance and Transport sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.60%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:9983), which rose 4.13% or 2280.0 points to trade at 57460.0 at the close. Heiwa Real Estate Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:8803) added 3.45% or 58.0 points to end at 1737.0 and Sharp Corp. (TOKYO:6753) was up 3.11% or 5.0 points to 166.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Keio Corp. (TOKYO:9008), which lost 3.41% or 32.0 points to trade at 907.0 in late trade. GS Yuasa Corp. (TOKYO:6674) declined 2.78% or 13.0 points to end at 455.0 and Toho Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:9602) shed 2.63% or 78.0 points to 2884.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1432 to 450 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.91% to 23.35.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 1.76% or 0.91 to $52.56 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August rose 1.33% or 0.76 to hit $57.81 a barrel, while the August Gold contract fell 0.11% or 1.30 to trade at $1162.20 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.60% to 121.44, while EUR/JPY rose 0.84% to 134.82.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.12% at 96.26.