Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.22%

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 added 0.22% to hit a new 1-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Advantest Corp. (T: 6857 ), which rose 20.23% or 700.0 points to trade at 4160.0 at the close. CyberAgent Inc (T: 4751 ) added 11.49% or 455.0 points to end at 4415.0 and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (T: 4063 ) was up 7.24% or 745.0 points to 11035.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Hitachi Construction Machinery Co (T: 6305 ), which lost 2.89% or 80.0 points to trade at 2686.0 in late trade. Canon Inc (T: 7751 ) declined 2.79% or 87.0 points to end at 3036.0 and Dentsu Inc. (T: 4324 ) shed 2.41% or 90.0 points to 3650.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2243 to 1223 and 284 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 14.95.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was up 0.63% or 0.35 to $56.23 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.49% or 0.31 to hit $63.49 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.12% or 1.65 to trade at $1425.25 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.10% to 108.06, while EUR/JPY fell 0.19% to 120.26.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 97.475.