Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.54%

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 added 0.54%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Hitachi Zosen Corp. (T:7004), which rose 6.38% or 34.0 points to trade at 567.0 at the close. IHI Corp. (T:7013) added 5.89% or 108.0 points to end at 1943.0 and Inpex Corp. (T:1605) was up 4.95% or 27.0 points to 573.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Hino Motors, Ltd. (T:7205), which lost 12.37% or 127.0 points to trade at 900.0 in late trade. Kuraray Co., Ltd. (T:3405) declined 4.13% or 46.0 points to end at 1067.0 and Softbank Group Corp. (T:9984) shed 1.65% or 133.0 points to 7942.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2321 to 1185 and 241 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 20.87.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.10% or 0.05 to $48.17 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.14% or 0.07 to hit $51.31 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.14% or 2.70 to trade at $1880.80 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.01% to 103.56, while EUR/JPY rose 0.22% to 126.45.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.26% at 90.108.