Stocks in Japan ended the trading day on a positive note Thursday, with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.41% higher. Sector strength in Real Estate, Banking and Textile helped push the index into gains by the market's close in Tokyo.
The session's strongest performers on the Nikkei 225 were NEC Corp. (TYO:6701), Recruit Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:6098) and M3 Inc (TYO:2413). NEC Corp. climbed 9.44%, adding 355.00 points to finish at 4,115.00. Recruit Holdings rose 7.31%, or 460.00 points, to end trading at 6,750.00. M3 increased 6.44%, gaining 98.50 points to close at 1,628.50.
On the downside, the largest losers included Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (TYO:6976), which dropped 4.72% or 242.00 points to finish at 4,889.00. Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. (TYO:5802) fell 4.43%, losing 475.00 points to close at 10,240.00, and Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (TYO:8233) declined 4.41% or 93.00 points to end at 2,014.50.
Market breadth on the Tokyo Stock Exchange favored advancing issues, with 2,238 stocks rising versus 1,384 declining and 207 ending unchanged.
The Nikkei Volatility index, which reflects implied volatility for Nikkei 225 options, eased 12.69% to 26.89 by the close.
Commodity markets were mixed. Crude oil for April delivery moved up 0.17% or 0.11 to $65.53 a barrel. Brent oil for May delivery gained 0.23% or 0.16 to $70.85 a barrel. April Gold Futures declined 0.29% or 15.19 to trade at 5,211.01 a troy ounce.
In currency markets, USD/JPY fell 0.27% to 156.01 while EUR/JPY slipped 0.21% to 184.37. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 97.54.
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