Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.37%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Transport , Steel and Fishery sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.37% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Softbank Corp. (T: 9984 ), which rose 4.69% or 515.0 points to trade at 11487.5 at the close. Sony Corp (T: 6758 ) added 4.52% or 301.0 points to end at 6966.0 and Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp (T: 4188 ) was up 3.77% or 39.5 points to 1087.5 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (T: 6976 ), which lost 3.44% or 91.0 points to trade at 2554.0 in late trade. Fujikura Ltd. (T: 5803 ) declined 2.72% or 15.0 points to end at 537.0 and Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (T: 5232 ) shed 2.69% or 130.0 points to 4710.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2277 to 1123 and 222 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.67% to 16.33.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for November delivery was up 0.25% or 0.18 to $72.30 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in December rose 0.14% or 0.11 to hit $81.49 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract fell 0.01% or 0.10 to trade at $1187.30 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.08% to 113.47, while EUR/JPY fell 0.09% to 131.86.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 94.72.