Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.20%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Banking , Finance & Investment and Shipbuilding sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.20% to hit a new 1-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (TO) (T: 8306 ), which rose 6.57% or 35.7 points to trade at 579.3 at the close. Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (T: 8354 ) added 6.36% or 25.0 points to end at 418.0 and Sharp Corp. (T: 6753 ) was up 5.09% or 7.0 points to 144.5 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T: 7211 ), which lost 13.64% or 79.5 points to trade at 503.5 in late trade. Meidensha Corp. (T: 6508 ) declined 4.46% or 22.0 points to end at 471.0 and GS Yuasa Corp. (T: 6674 ) shed 2.77% or 13.0 points to 456.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1202 to 658 and 141 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.52% to 29.09.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for June delivery was up 1.20% or 0.52 to $43.70 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 1.01% or 0.45 to hit $44.98 a barrel, while the June Gold contract fell 0.29% or 3.60 to trade at $1246.70 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.99% to 110.54, while EUR/JPY rose 1.04% to 124.84.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.05% at 94.67.