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 Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic , Mining and Communication sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.18% to hit a new 52-week high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Credit Saison Co., Ltd. (T: 8253 ), which rose 5.21% or 107.0 points to trade at 2159.0 at the close. Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. (T: 8802 ) added 4.75% or 89.5 points to end at 1974.5 and J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (T: 3086 ) was up 4.10% or 61.0 points to 1547.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nippon Light Metal Holdings Co. (T: 5703 ), which lost 3.59% or 12.0 points to trade at 322.0 in late trade. Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (T: 6770 ) declined 3.40% or 103.0 points to end at 2922.0 and Concordia Financial Group Ltd (T: 7186 ) shed 3.06% or 17.1 points to 540.9.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1681 to 1525 and 279 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.49% to 14.08.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for November delivery was down 0.49% or 0.25 to $50.44 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in November fell 0.30% or 0.17 to hit $56.12 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract fell 1.29% or 17.03 to trade at $1299.37 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.25% to 112.51, while EUR/JPY rose 0.40% to 133.99.

The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 92.22.