Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Machinery, Shipbuilding and Glass sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.81%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T:8035), which rose 5.69% or 645.0 points to trade at 11985.0 at the close. The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (T:8331) added 5.19% or 37.0 points to end at 750.0 and Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (T:5233) was up 5.17% or 20.0 points to 406.5 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Inpex Corp. (T:1605), which lost 3.25% or 36.5 points to trade at 1087.0 in late trade. JGC Corp. (T:1963) declined 3.16% or 66.0 points to end at 2023.0 and Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366) shed 1.07% or 9.0 points to 836.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2379 to 673 and 295 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 6.70% to 18.81.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.83% or 0.44 to $53.19 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.87% or 0.48 to hit $55.56 a barrel, while the February Gold contract fell 0.16% or 1.95 to trade at $1195.85 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.28% to 113.62, while EUR/JPY rose 0.22% to 122.03.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.09% at 100.00.