Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Mining and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.40%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506), which rose 7.56% or 260.0 points to trade at 3700.0 at the close. Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. (T:5002) added 5.71% or 95.0 points to end at 1759.0 and Otsuka Holdings Ltd (T:4578) was up 4.53% or 240.0 points to 5535.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Toshiba Corp. (T:6502), which lost 5.50% or 205.0 points to trade at 3520.0 in late trade. Kyocera Corp. (T:6971) declined 2.70% or 170.0 points to end at 6125.0 and The Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (T:5631) shed 2.54% or 54.0 points to 2074.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2053 to 1444 and 210 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.85% to 20.11.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.41% or 0.21 to $51.24 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.13% or 0.08 to hit $59.83 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.07% or 0.90 to trade at $1229.50 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.04% to 113.43, while EUR/JPY fell 0.18% to 129.06.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 96.775.