TOKYO: Japan stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gas & Water, Railway & Bus and Retail sectors led shares higher. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.19%. The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings (T:8725), which rose 5.10% or 180.0 points to trade at 3712.0 at the close. Meanwhile, The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. (T:8750) added 3.20% or 56.5 points to end at 1824.8 and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. (T:8601) was up 3.06% or 20.1 points to 676.6 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. (T:9412), which fell 4.76% or 25.0 points to trade at 500.0 at the close. Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (T:9532) declined 3.88% or 16.9 points to end at 418.2 and Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (T:7911) was down 2.86% or 34.0 points to 1156.0. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1857 to 1183 and 311 ended unchanged. The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 7.67% to 17.40. Crude oil for June delivery was up 1.30% or 0.64 to $49.99 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July rose 1.24% or 0.65 to hit $53.16 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.30% or 3.80 to trade at $1249.00 a troy ounce. USD/JPY was unchanged 0.00% to 111.48, while EUR/JPY rose 0.40% to 124.28. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.33% at 97.45.
