Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Banking and Fishery sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.51%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sekisui House, Ltd. (T:1928), which rose 4.57% or 83.5 points to trade at 1911.5 at the close. Resona Holdings, Inc. (T:8308) added 4.12% or 16.8 points to end at 424.6 and Shinsei Bank, Ltd. (T:8303) was up 4.11% or 6.0 points to 152.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (T:8233), which lost 5.20% or 50.0 points to trade at 912.0 in late trade. The Kansai Electric Power Co. (T:9503) declined 4.06% or 42.5 points to end at 1004.5 and Kubota Corp. (T:6326) shed 2.69% or 42.5 points to 1538.5.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1258 to 520 and 113 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 6.40% to 28.95.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 2.19% or 0.83 to $38.67 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 1.72% or 0.69 to hit $40.74 a barrel, while the April Gold contract fell 0.20% or 2.50 to trade at $1270.30 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.26% to 113.49, while EUR/JPY rose 0.18% to 126.75.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.06% at 96.25.