Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Mining, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Shipbuilding sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.12% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Inpex Corp. (T:1605), which rose 9.95% or 108.0 points to trade at 1193.0 at the close. JGC Corp. (T:1963) added 8.05% or 152.0 points to end at 2040.0 and JX Holdings, Inc. (T:5020) was up 7.40% or 32.3 points to 468.5 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Asahi Kasei Corp. (T:3407), which lost 2.49% or 25.3 points to trade at 992.2 in late trade. ANA Holdings Inc. (T:9202) declined 2.49% or 7.9 points to end at 309.7 and Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (T:3863) shed 1.92% or 38.0 points to 1940.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1786 to 1236 and 318 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 4.65% to 20.26.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 1.03% or 0.51 to $49.95 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 1.18% or 0.61 to hit $52.45 a barrel, while the February Gold contract rose 0.27% or 3.15 to trade at $1177.05 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.45% to 113.94, while EUR/JPY fell 0.16% to 121.03.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.31% at 101.32.