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.