Investing.com – Japan stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Insurance, Banking and Finance & Investment sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.68% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (T:9983), which rose 18.08% or 5000.0 points to trade at 32660.0 at the close. Meanwhile, The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. (T:8750) added 7.78% or 90.5 points to end at 1254.0 and Nomura Holdings Inc (T:8604) was up 5.87% or 23.4 points to 422.0 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Konami Corp. (T:9766), which fell 8.58% or 385.0 points to trade at 4100.0 at the close. Takara Holdings Inc. (T:2531) declined 5.59% or 56.0 points to end at 945.0 and Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. (T:1332) was down 4.00% or 21.0 points to 504.0.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1034 to 913 and 110 ended unchanged.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.70% to 28.79.
Crude oil for August delivery was down 1.01% or 0.46 to $45.22 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in September fell 1.06% or 0.50 to hit $46.87 a barrel, while the August Gold contract rose 0.06% or 0.80 to trade at $1333.00 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.26% to 105.65, while EUR/JPY rose 0.29% to 117.52.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 96.08.