Japan stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Transportation Equipment, Trading and Steel sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.26%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Aeon Co., Ltd. (TYO:8267), which rose 2.70% or 70.00 points to trade at 2,664.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Kyowa Kirin Co Ltd (TYO:4151) added 2.46% or 73.00 points to end at 3,040.00 and Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (TYO:4568) was up 2.14% or 99.00 points to 4,719.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201), which fell 2.06% or 10.40 points to trade at 495.00 at the close. Konica Minolta, Inc. (TYO:4902) declined 1.99% or 11.00 points to end at 542.00 and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (TYO:7211) was down 1.95% or 10.00 points to 504.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1867 to 1644 and 309 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.77% to 16.77.

Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.01% or 0.01 to $83.25 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 0.11% or 0.10 to hit $87.23 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.66% or 13.45 to trade at $2,038.35 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.03% to 133.09, while EUR/JPY rose 0.06% to 146.38.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 101.13.