Investing.com – Japan stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gas & Water, Pharmaceutical Industry and Insurance sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.95% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were CyberAgent Inc (TYO:4751), which rose 6.94% or 84.00 points to trade at 1,294.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Nippon Yusen K.K (TYO:9101) added 6.05% or 167.50 points to end at 2,938.00 and Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) was up 4.56% or 410.00 points to 9,400.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Mazda Motor Corp (TYO:7261), which fell 2.42% or 27.00 points to trade at 1,091.00 at the close. JGC Corp. (TYO:1963) declined 1.87% or 36.00 points to end at 1,894.00 and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (TYO:7211) was down 1.79% or 11.00 points to 603.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2865 to 708 and 248 ended unchanged.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.39% to 17.15 a new 52-week low.
Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.59% or 0.46 to $77.48 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in January fell 0.64% or 0.55 to hit $84.86 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.62% or 10.75 to trade at $1,756.35 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.64% to 138.70, while EUR/JPY fell 0.35% to 144.60.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.24% at 105.71.