The Nikkei 225 Index went up by 330 points or 0.50 percent on Thursday to close at 66445 points.

The rise was led by Nippon Paper (5.07%), Sumitomo Metal Mining (4.91%) and IHI (3.99%).

On the downside, the weakerst performers were Takashimaya (-6.58%), J Front Retailing (-5.76%) and Isetan Mitsukoshi (-4.89%).