Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Steel, Services and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.48% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were DeNA Co Ltd (T:2432), which rose 5.74% or 98.0 points to trade at 1805.0 at the close. Kao Corp. (T:4452) added 5.25% or 428.0 points to end at 8584.0 and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co (T:6305) was up 4.89% or 139.0 points to 2982.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Kansai Electric Power Co. (T:9503), which lost 4.92% or 71.0 points to trade at 1372.5 in late trade. Kikkoman Corp. (T:2801) declined 4.35% or 240.0 points to end at 5280.0 and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (T:5713) shed 2.70% or 97.0 points to 3494.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2329 to 1178 and 223 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.71% to 15.56.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for June delivery was up 0.08% or 0.05 to $65.94 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.55% or 0.41 to hit $74.98 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.00% or 0.05 to trade at $1279.45 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.33% to 111.80, while EUR/JPY fell 0.35% to 124.65.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 97.822.