Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.20%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Mining , Gas & Water and Insurance sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.20%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Hitachi Ltd (TYO: 6501 ), which rose 4.49% or 301.00 points to trade at 7,007.00 at the close. Advantest Corp. (TYO: 6857 ) added 3.66% or 350.00 points to end at 9,920.00 and Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TYO: 7735 ) was up 3.48% or 350.00 points to 10,410.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (TYO: 4005 ), which lost 8.47% or 42.00 points to trade at 454.00 in late trade. SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. (TYO: 9412 ) declined 5.67% or 28.00 points to end at 466.00 and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (TYO: 2802 ) shed 4.47% or 184.00 points to 3,933.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2168 to 1364 and 274 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.00% to 17.14.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.67% or 0.51 to $76.92 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.62% or 0.51 to hit $83.35 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 1.48% or 28.85 to trade at $1,971.65 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.27% to 128.59, while EUR/JPY fell 0.09% to 141.55.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 100.80.