Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Banking and Insurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.15% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sharp Corp (TYO:6753), which rose 5.19% or 43.60 points to trade at 884.40 at the close. Suzuki Motor Corp. (TYO:7269) added 3.63% or 239.00 points to end at 6,828.00 and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201) was up 3.36% or 20.90 points to 643.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TYO:4519), which lost 3.59% or 219.00 points to trade at 5,871.00 in late trade. Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) declined 2.98% or 201.00 points to end at 6,550.00 and Komatsu Ltd. (TYO:6301) shed 2.15% or 99.00 points to 4,507.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2181 to 1437 and 259 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.44% to 18.83 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.65% or 0.53 to $80.54 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 0.64% or 0.55 to hit $85.23 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.46% or 9.95 to trade at $2,174.75 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.10% to 151.46, while EUR/JPY fell 0.37% to 164.05.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 103.89.