Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Machinery, Precision Instruments and Shipbuilding sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.50% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (TYO:9983), which rose 6.34% or 2,320.00 points to trade at 38,940.00 at the close. SUMCO Corp. (TYO:3436) added 5.13% or 111.50 points to end at 2,283.00 and Recruit Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:6098) was up 4.89% or 290.00 points to 6,224.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (TYO:7003), which lost 5.25% or 39.00 points to trade at 704.00 in late trade. Panasonic Corp (TYO:6752) declined 2.77% or 40.50 points to end at 1,419.00 and Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. (TYO:3382) shed 2.65% or 155.00 points to 5,702.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2418 to 1243 and 226 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 2.19% to 19.62 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 2.24% or 1.61 to $73.63 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 2.13% or 1.65 to hit $79.06 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 1.03% or 20.75 to trade at $2,039.95 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.08% to 145.16, while EUR/JPY fell 0.04% to 159.34.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 102.00.