Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.91%

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 rose 0.91% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Olympus Corp. (T: 7733 ), which rose 4.89% or 105.0 points to trade at 2253.5 at the close. Yahoo Japan Corp. (T: 4689 ) added 4.40% or 27.4 points to end at 649.5 and Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (T: 6976 ) was up 4.15% or 185.0 points to 4645.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (T: 5202 ), which lost 3.65% or 16.0 points to trade at 422.0 in late trade. Obayashi Corp. (T: 1802 ) declined 3.10% or 30.0 points to end at 939.0 and T&D Holdings, Inc. (T: 8795 ) shed 2.98% or 37.0 points to 1204.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2103 to 1395 and 217 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 21.38.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.15% or 0.07 to $45.64 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.04% or 0.02 to hit $48.51 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.36% or 6.55 to trade at $1812.05 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.11% to 104.33, while EUR/JPY rose 0.08% to 124.53.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 91.877.