Japan stocks higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.46% By Investing.com

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

At the close in Tokyo, the rose 0.46%.

The best performers of the session on the were Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (TYO:), which rose 5.45% or 153.00 points to trade at 2,960.00 at the close. Meanwhile, GS Yuasa Corp. (TYO:) added 4.75% or 95.00 points to end at 2,096.00 and Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (TYO:) was up 4.30% or 101.00 points to 2,449.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. (TYO:), which fell 1.59% or 45.50 points to trade at 2,815.00 at the close. Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (TYO:) declined 1.55% or 9.00 points to end at 573.00 and Nichirei Corp. (TYO:) was down 1.49% or 43.00 points to 2,839.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2472 to 1077 and 275 ended unchanged.

The , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.08% to 20.74.

Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.27% or 0.21 to $78.50 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.18% or 0.15 to hit $82.35 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.09% or 1.65 to trade at $1,823.75 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.40% to 131.93, while EUR/JPY fell 0.09% to 140.33.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 103.63.