Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.33%

Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.33% to hit a new 1-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kikkoman Corp. (T:2801), which rose 4.19% or 350.0 points to trade at 8700.0 at the close. TOTO Ltd. (T:5332) added 2.79% or 170.0 points to end at 6270.0 and Yokogawa Electric Corp. (T:6841) was up 2.73% or 48.0 points to 1804.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included West Japan Railway Co. (T:9021), which lost 13.36% or 803.0 points to trade at 5208.0 in late trade. East Japan Railway Co. (T:9020) declined 6.90% or 512.0 points to end at 6908.0 and Central Japan Railway Co. (T:9022) shed 4.33% or 700.0 points to 15450.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2094 to 1405 and 251 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 17.16.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for October delivery was down 0.06% or 0.04 to $68.55 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in November fell 0.04% or 0.03 to hit $71.56 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.03% or 0.55 to trade at $1816.55 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.06% to 110.06, while EUR/JPY rose 0.16% to 130.42.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 92.433.