Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Food and Chemical sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.10% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sharp Corp. (T:6753), which rose 4.76% or 6.0 points to trade at 132.0 at the close. Pioneer Corp. (T:6773) added 3.93% or 13.0 points to end at 344.0 and Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd. (T:2269) was up 3.09% or 310.0 points to 10330.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Kansai Electric Power Co. (T:9503), which lost 2.37% or 34.5 points to trade at 1420.5 in late trade. IHI Corp. (T:7013) declined 2.32% or 8.0 points to end at 337.0 and Nippon Meat Packers, Inc. (T:2282) shed 2.19% or 54.0 points to 2412.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1137 to 735 and 1 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.67% to 20.46.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.44% or 0.18 to $41.91 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in January rose 0.07% or 0.03 to hit $44.24 a barrel, while the December Gold contract rose 0.60% or 6.50 to trade at $1084.40 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.02% to 122.83, while EUR/JPY fell 0.18% to 131.65.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.07% at 99.15.