Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Insurance and Communication sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.64%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:4506), which rose 8.00% or 30.00 points to trade at 405.00 at the close. Ebara Corp. (TYO:6361) added 7.32% or 173.50 points to end at 2,543.50 and IHI Corp. (TYO:7013) was up 5.91% or 268.00 points to 4,805.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Hino Motors, Ltd. (TYO:7205), which lost 5.43% or 24.00 points to trade at 418.00 in late trade. Shiseido Co., Ltd. (TYO:4911) declined 4.95% or 239.00 points to end at 4,588.00 and Sharp Corp (TYO:6753) shed 4.76% or 46.50 points to 930.10.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1979 to 1634 and 270 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.00% to 16.18 a new 6-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.62% or 0.51 to $82.25 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.53% or 0.45 to hit $85.71 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.06% or 1.45 to trade at $2,338.05 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.11% to 160.91, while EUR/JPY rose 0.03% to 172.12.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 105.68.