Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gas & Water, Marine Transport and Warehousing sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.60% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were NSK Ltd. (T:6471), which rose 7.51% or 101.0 points to trade at 1445.0 at the close. Kobe Steel, Ltd. (T:5406) added 6.77% or 68.5 points to end at 1080.5 and Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T:5707) was up 5.97% or 25.0 points to 444.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nichirei Corp. (T:2871), which lost 2.47% or 80.0 points to trade at 3155.0 in late trade. Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. (T:4021) declined 1.78% or 70.0 points to end at 3865.0 and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp (T:9432) shed 1.33% or 71.0 points to 5282.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2153 to 934 and 289 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.58% to 13.68 a new 5-year low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for July delivery was down 2.03% or 0.98 to $47.38 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August fell 1.96% or 0.99 to hit $49.64 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.38% or 4.81 to trade at $1262.19 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.13% to 111.51, while EUR/JPY rose 0.24% to 125.16.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 97.15.