Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Precision Instruments, Transport and Retail sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.07% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (T:6976), which rose 6.88% or 131.0 points to trade at 2035.0 at the close. Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (T:4568) added 5.79% or 218.0 points to end at 3985.0 and Astellas Pharma Inc. (T:4503) was up 5.16% or 83.0 points to 1692.5 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (T:2802), which lost 10.10% or 190.0 points to trade at 1691.0 in late trade. Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (T:5202) declined 9.48% or 93.0 points to end at 888.0 and Konami Corp. (T:9766) shed 8.08% or 405.0 points to 4605.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2064 to 1450 and 192 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 6.59% to 18.86 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.06% or 0.03 to $53.76 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.12% or 0.07 to hit $60.91 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.15% or 1.95 to trade at $1323.25 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.08% to 108.95, while EUR/JPY rose 0.10% to 124.74.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.00% at 95.308.