Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.85%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Communication , Gas & Water and Food sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.85%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T: 5301 ), which rose 7.31% or 146.0 points to trade at 2144.0 at the close. Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (T: 9983 ) added 6.95% or 3420.0 points to end at 52650.0 and Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 9064 ) was up 4.34% or 132.0 points to 3171.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Concordia Financial Group Ltd (T: 7186 ), which lost 8.53% or 47.0 points to trade at 504.0 in late trade. Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T: 6506 ) declined 3.95% or 160.0 points to end at 3890.0 and Familymart Ltd (T: 8028 ) shed 2.38% or 270.0 points to 11070.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2324 to 1024 and 218 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 4.86% to 16.84.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was down 0.54% or 0.38 to $69.95 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September fell 1.36% or 1.01 to hit $73.44 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 0.43% or 5.40 to trade at $1241.20 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.20% to 112.74, while EUR/JPY fell 0.24% to 130.99.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.42% at 94.97.