Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.33%

Japan equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.33%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Fujikura Ltd. (T:5803), which rose 16.30% or 90.0 points to trade at 642.0 at the close. Nikon Corp. (T:7731) added 8.44% or 89.0 points to end at 1143.0 and Konami Corp. (T:9766) was up 7.41% or 440.0 points to 6380.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kobe Steel, Ltd. (T:5406), which lost 10.61% or 80.0 points to trade at 674.0 in late trade. Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (T:5801) declined 5.84% or 159.0 points to end at 2563.0 and Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (T:5202) shed 5.58% or 34.0 points to 575.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1829 to 1647 and 260 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 20.85.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was up 0.59% or 0.41 to $69.50 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in October rose 0.56% or 0.40 to hit $71.69 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract fell 0.35% or 6.25 to trade at $1802.65 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.00% to 109.74, while EUR/JPY fell 0.05% to 129.77.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 92.312.