Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 495.04 points, or 0.76%, at 65,513.99 on Thursday, Sept. 24.

Wall Street Journal reports sources say top executives from ExxonMobil (XOM.N), Chevron (CVX.N) and Phillips 66 (PSX.N) participated in the lobbying effort.

Germany's ambassador to India, Asper Wieck, said Germany is prepared to sign an approximately $8 billion submarine-construction agreement with India, describing the deal as near-final as the two countries deepen defence and security cooperation. Germany has agreed to pursue the project via a government-to-government arrangement and said the deal will adopt a proactively forward-looking approach to meeting India's requirements. Wieck said the agreement should be signed tomorrow. He added that building the submarines in India will require substantial component integration and could pave the way for expanded bilateral cooperation in weapons and other military systems.