Japan stocks higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.62%

Investing.com – Japan stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Services , Transport and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.62%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were T&D Holdings, Inc. (TYO:8795 ), which rose 12.80% or 320.50 points to trade at 2,824.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035 ) added 6.74% or 1,500.00 points to end at 23,740.00 and Casio Computer Co., Ltd. (TYO:6952 ) was up 6.64% or 71.00 points to 1,140.50 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Ricoh Co., Ltd. (TYO:7752 ), which fell 5.08% or 89.00 points to trade at 1,663.00 at the close. Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857 ) declined 3.48% or 296.00 points to end at 8,210.00 and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:4506 ) was down 3.32% or 20.00 points to 583.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2218 to 1329 and 294 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.38% to 20.77 a new 3-months low.

Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.07% or 0.05 to $68.67 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.07% or 0.05 to hit $72.25 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.20% or 5.24 to trade at $2,659.56 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.34% to 151.62, while EUR/JPY rose 0.13% to 159.89.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.19% at 106.25.

Source: Investing.com