Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.61%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.61%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Showa Denko K.K. (T: 4004 ), which rose 5.00% or 225.0 points to trade at 4725.0 at the close. Softbank Corp. (T: 9984 ) added 4.64% or 383.0 points to end at 8641.0 and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (T: 4502 ) was up 4.46% or 192.0 points to 4494.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T: 4506 ), which lost 4.39% or 105.0 points to trade at 2287.0 in late trade. Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (T: 8354 ) declined 3.83% or 22.0 points to end at 552.0 and The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (T: 8331 ) shed 3.78% or 31.0 points to 790.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1853 to 1488 and 212 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 12.38% to 17.34.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was down 0.91% or 0.60 to $65.11 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August fell 1.35% or 1.01 to hit $73.73 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 0.71% or 9.00 to trade at $1265.50 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.22% to 110.60, while EUR/JPY rose 0.04% to 127.77.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23% at 95.00.