Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Banking, Marine Transport and Insurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.56%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nomura Holdings Inc (T:8604), which rose 12.54% or 52.3 points to trade at 469.2 at the close. Fujikura Ltd. (T:5803) added 11.03% or 58.0 points to end at 584.0 and Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (T:8354) was up 10.31% or 37.0 points to 396.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included IHI Corp. (T:7013), which lost 6.26% or 19.5 points to trade at 292.0 in late trade. Toyota Tsusho Corp. (T:8015) declined 4.31% or 103.0 points to end at 2286.0 and JGC Corp. (T:1963) shed 4.30% or 68.0 points to 1515.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1289 to 638 and 130 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 12.10% to 26.60 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was down 0.63% or 0.26 to $40.88 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in October fell 0.58% or 0.25 to hit $42.98 a barrel, while the December Gold contract rose 0.04% or 0.50 to trade at $1341.70 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 1.85% to 103.32, while EUR/JPY fell 1.77% to 114.56.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.34% at 96.36.