Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.26%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Transport, Rubber and Paper&Pulp sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.26%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were  Konica Minolta, Inc.  (TYO:4902), which rose 5.23% or 27.90 points to trade at 561.20 at the close.  Nidec Corp  (TYO:6594) added 5.00% or 142.00 points to end at 2,984.50 and Kanadevia Corp (TYO:7004) was up 3.54% or 35.00 points to 1,024.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kansai Electric Power Co Inc (TYO:9503), which lost 3.30% or 85.00 points to trade at 2,492.00 in late trade.  Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd.  (TYO:5232) declined 2.27% or 87.00 points to end at 3,751.00 and  Nikon Corp.  (TYO:7731) shed 2.15% or 39.00 points to 1,776.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2297 to 1255 and 298 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.73% to 27.22.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for December delivery was up 1.10% or 0.78 to $71.55 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in December rose 0.97% or 0.73 to hit $75.69 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.62% or 16.95 to trade at $2,746.35 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.36% to 152.21, while EUR/JPY fell 0.30% to 164.19.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 104.19.