Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Mining and Railway & Bus sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.23% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Eisai Co., Ltd. (T:4523), which rose 9.66% or 606.0 points to trade at 6881.0 at the close. Tokuyama Corp. (T:4043) added 7.32% or 32.0 points to end at 469.0 and SUMCO Corp. (T:3436) was up 5.93% or 90.0 points to 1607.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T:9501), which lost 2.98% or 16.0 points to trade at 520.5 in late trade. Pioneer Corp. (T:6773) declined 1.97% or 5.0 points to end at 249.0 and Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (T:5232) shed 1.37% or 6.0 points to 432.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1881 to 1128 and 337 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 2.47% to 18.65.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.71% or 0.36 to $51.20 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.35% or 0.19 to hit $54.08 a barrel, while the February Gold contract fell 0.07% or 0.85 to trade at $1171.55 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.33% to 114.40, while EUR/JPY rose 0.34% to 121.44.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.05% at 101.16.