Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.18%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp , Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.18%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Fujitsu Ltd. (T: 6702 ), which rose 4.65% or 635.0 points to trade at 14280.0 at the close. Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (T: 5711 ) added 4.05% or 89.0 points to end at 2285.0 and Softbank Group Corp. (T: 9984 ) was up 3.99% or 320.0 points to 8350.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (T: 7003 ), which lost 6.80% or 28.0 points to trade at 384.0 in late trade. IHI Corp. (T: 7013 ) declined 6.03% or 128.0 points to end at 1993.0 and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T: 7211 ) shed 5.83% or 13.0 points to 210.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2022 to 1498 and 205 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 18.97.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 1.44% or 0.69 to $48.51 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 1.35% or 0.69 to hit $51.77 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.88% or 16.45 to trade at $1875.55 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.27% to 103.20, while EUR/JPY rose 0.01% to 126.22.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.54% at 89.873.