Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Power, Gas & Water and Steel sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.47% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T:8035), which rose 8.42% or 1635.0 points to trade at 21050.0 at the close. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (T:7012) added 4.75% or 172.6 points to end at 3810.1 and SUMCO Corp. (T:3436) was up 3.63% or 95.0 points to 2711.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nippon Steel&Sumitomo Metal Corp. (T:5401), which lost 2.61% or 63.3 points to trade at 2366.5 in late trade. JX Holdings, Inc. (T:5020) declined 2.53% or 18.2 points to end at 701.8 and Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. (T:5706) shed 2.34% or 112.5 points to 4702.5.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1865 to 1504 and 193 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 2.05% to 16.43.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for June delivery was up 0.18% or 0.12 to $68.17 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.39% or 0.29 to hit $74.29 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.16% or 2.10 to trade at $1324.90 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.11% to 109.31, while EUR/JPY rose 0.05% to 133.14.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 91.00.