Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Mining, Gas & Water and Insurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Hitachi Ltd (TYO:6501), which rose 4.49% or 301.00 points to trade at 7,007.00 at the close. Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) added 3.66% or 350.00 points to end at 9,920.00 and Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TYO:7735) was up 3.48% or 350.00 points to 10,410.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (TYO:4005), which lost 8.47% or 42.00 points to trade at 454.00 in late trade. SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. (TYO:9412) declined 5.67% or 28.00 points to end at 466.00 and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (TYO:2802) shed 4.47% or 184.00 points to 3,933.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2168 to 1364 and 274 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.00% to 17.14.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.67% or 0.51 to $76.92 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.62% or 0.51 to hit $83.35 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 1.48% or 28.85 to trade at $1,971.65 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.27% to 128.59, while EUR/JPY fell 0.09% to 141.55.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 100.80.