Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Transportation Equipment, Insurance and Shipbuilding sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were SUMCO Corp. (TOKYO:3436), which rose 3.50% or 47.0 points to trade at 1391.0 at the close. Unitika, Ltd. (TOKYO:3103) added 3.45% or 2.0 points to end at 60.0 and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (TOKYO:2802) was up 3.05% or 86.0 points to 2906.5 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sharp Corp. (TOKYO:6753), which lost 3.49% or 6.0 points to trade at 166.0 in late trade. Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:7735) declined 2.62% or 19.0 points to end at 705.0 and The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:5101) shed 2.29% or 56.0 points to 2389.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1045 to 836 and 1 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.54% to 16.69.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.17% or 0.09 to $50.99 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.38% or 0.21 to hit $57.13 a barrel, while the August Gold contract fell 0.04% or 0.50 to trade at $1143.40 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.09% to 124.03, while EUR/JPY fell 0.02% to 134.97.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.08% at 97.69.