Japan stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Paper&Pulp, Railway&Bus and Real Estate sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.71%.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (T:5233), which rose 5.29% or 175.0 points to trade at 3485.0 at the close. Meanwhile, JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) added 5.24% or 72.0 points to end at 1447.0 and Minebea Mitsumi Inc (T:6479) was up 4.84% or 103.0 points to 2233.0 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Rakuten Inc (T:4755), which fell 2.25% or 21.0 points to trade at 913.0 at the close. Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. (T:1332) declined 1.56% or 10.0 points to end at 632.0 and NTT Docomo, Inc. (T:9437) was down 1.33% or 40.0 points to 2974.0.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2012 to 1511 and 246 ended unchanged.
Shares in Minebea Mitsumi Inc (T:6479) rose to 52-week highs; rising 4.84% or 103.0 to 2233.0.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 16.45 a new 1-month high.
Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.26% or 0.15 to $58.28 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.11% or 0.07 to hit $62.93 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.05% or 0.75 to trade at $1480.95 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.01% to 108.86, while EUR/JPY rose 0.09% to 120.67.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 97.502.
