Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Transportation Equipment, Pharmaceutical Industry and Chemical sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Familymart Ltd (T:8028), which rose 3.25% or 87.0 points to trade at 2767.0 at the close. TOTO Ltd. (T:5332) added 1.86% or 85.0 points to end at 4655.0 and Denso Corp. (T:6902) was up 1.85% or 86.0 points to 4743.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Rakuten Inc (T:4755), which lost 4.18% or 47.0 points to trade at 1077.0 in late trade. SUMCO Corp. (T:3436) declined 3.99% or 58.0 points to end at 1395.0 and Resona Holdings, Inc. (T:8308) shed 3.14% or 14.9 points to 460.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2060 to 1383 and 249 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.00% to 16.16.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.59% or 0.38 to $64.23 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 0.33% or 0.24 to hit $71.49 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.47% or 6.15 to trade at $1307.75 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.13% to 111.14, while EUR/JPY rose 0.18% to 125.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 96.578.