Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.62%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Marine Transport , Insurance and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.62%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokuyama Corp. (T: 4043 ), which rose 7.53% or 230.0 points to trade at 3285.0 at the close. The Kansai Electric Power Co. (T: 9503 ) added 4.95% or 62.5 points to end at 1324.5 and Pacific Metals Co., Ltd. (T: 5541 ) was up 4.55% or 145.0 points to 3335.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Ube Industries, Ltd. (T: 4208 ), which lost 6.37% or 215.0 points to trade at 3160.0 in late trade. Kao Corp. (T: 4452 ) declined 2.45% or 194.0 points to end at 7730.0 and Yokogawa Electric Corp. (T: 6841 ) shed 1.63% or 36.0 points to 2175.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2465 to 943 and 159 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 8.93% to 25.01.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was down 0.02% or 0.01 to $62.76 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $66.38 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.29% or 3.90 to trade at $1328.80 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.30% to 107.07, while EUR/JPY fell 0.03% to 131.58.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.30% at 89.93.