Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.23%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.23%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Toshiba Corp. (T: 6502 ), which rose 6.75% or 13.1 points to trade at 207.2 at the close. Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T: 5301 ) added 4.20% or 20.0 points to end at 496.0 and Nippon Meat Packers, Inc. (T: 2282 ) was up 3.39% or 105.0 points to 3205.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included DeNA Co Ltd (T: 2432 ), which lost 5.45% or 138.0 points to trade at 2392.0 in late trade. The Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (T: 5631 ) declined 2.44% or 46.0 points to end at 1843.0 and Concordia Financial Group Ltd (T: 7186 ) shed 1.90% or 10.3 points to 531.7.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1634 to 1383 and 325 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 19.63% to 18.65.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 0.50% or 0.24 to $48.28 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.45% or 0.23 to hit $50.87 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.22% or 2.75 to trade at $1246.95 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.03% to 111.19, while EUR/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 120.02.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 99.52.