Japan stocks higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.27%

Investing.com – Japan stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Precision Instruments, Steel and Electrical/Machinery sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.27% to hit a new 1-month high.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857), which rose 5.10% or 430.00 points to trade at 8,865.00 at the close. Meanwhile, DeNA Co Ltd (TYO:2432) added 5.04% or 123.50 points to end at 2,573.50 and Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (TYO:9502) was up 4.54% or 70.50 points to 1,624.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were SUMCO Corp. (TYO:3436), which fell 2.56% or 31.00 points to trade at 1,180.00 at the close. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201) declined 2.16% or 7.90 points to end at 357.00 and Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (TYO:6976) was down 1.93% or 42.50 points to 2,158.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2010 to 1557 and 311 ended unchanged.

Shares in DeNA Co Ltd (TYO:2432) rose to 5-year highs; gaining 5.04% or 123.50 to 2,573.50.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 6.50% to 21.43.

Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.10% or 0.07 to $70.36 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.20% or 0.15 to hit $73.67 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.18% or 4.84 to trade at $2,751.86 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was unchanged 0.00% to 152.45, while EUR/JPY rose 0.21% to 160.36.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 106.16.