Japan stocks higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 1.18%

Investing.com – Japan stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Transport, Shipbuilding and Railway&Bus sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.18%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857), which rose 5.78% or 540.00 points to trade at 9,880.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (TYO:9501) added 5.52% or 27.00 points to end at 516.00 and Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (TYO:5801) was up 5.23% or 130.00 points to 2,616.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Sekisui House, Ltd. (TYO:1928), which fell 2.99% or 74.50 points to trade at 2,421.00 at the close. Inpex Corp. (TYO:1605) declined 1.45% or 21.00 points to end at 1,424.00 and Suzuki Motor Corp. (TYO:7269) was down 1.21% or 57.00 points to 4,662.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2566 to 976 and 268 ended unchanged.

Shares in Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (TYO:5801) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 5.23% or 130.00 to 2,616.00.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 16.81% to 18.66.

Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.70% or 0.50 to $71.96 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.67% or 0.51 to hit $76.66 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.27% or 4.90 to trade at $1,806.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.30% to 136.24, while EUR/JPY fell 0.12% to 144.07.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 104.56.