Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.26%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.26% to hit a new 6-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Casio Computer Co., Ltd. (T: 6952 ), which rose 7.11% or 100.0 points to trade at 1506.0 at the close. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T: 7211 ) added 6.25% or 32.5 points to end at 552.5 and Panasonic Corp. (T: 6752 ) was up 4.09% or 43.5 points to 1108.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Concordia Financial Group Ltd (T: 7186 ), which lost 4.40% or 23.2 points to trade at 504.0 in late trade. Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd. (T: 8804 ) declined 4.16% or 63.0 points to end at 1450.0 and Unitika, Ltd. (T: 3103 ) shed 3.26% or 3.0 points to 89.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1554 to 1461 and 324 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 2.62% to 19.97.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 1.23% or 0.59 to $47.37 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in January fell 1.29% or 0.63 to hit $48.37 a barrel, while the December Gold contract fell 0.71% or 8.50 to trade at $1180.80 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.02% to 113.34, while EUR/JPY rose 0.28% to 119.95.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.17% at 101.60.