Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.51%

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 0.51%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T: 7735 ), which rose 4.29% or 210.0 points to trade at 5100.0 at the close. SUMCO Corp. (T: 3436 ) added 3.77% or 49.0 points to end at 1349.0 and Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd. (T: 8804 ) was up 3.33% or 42.0 points to 1302.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Suzuki Motor Corp. (T: 7269 ), which lost 2.82% or 133.0 points to trade at 4590.0 in late trade. Chiyoda Corp. (T: 6366 ) declined 2.56% or 8.0 points to end at 305.0 and The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (T: 8331 ) shed 2.46% or 14.0 points to 555.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2508 to 1007 and 207 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 14.63.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.38% or 0.23 to $60.66 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.28% or 0.19 to hit $67.20 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.76% or 10.75 to trade at $1423.25 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.33% to 108.11, while EUR/JPY fell 0.14% to 121.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 96.547.