TOKYO: Japan stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gas & Water, Finance & Investment and Power sectors led shares lower. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.29%. The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (T:6770), which rose 4.63% or 145.0 points to trade at 3275.0 at the close. Meanwhile, NTT Docomo, Inc. (T:9437) added 3.88% or 100.5 points to end at 2688.0 and Hino Motors, Ltd. (T:7205) was up 3.33% or 45.0 points to 1397.0 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Advantest Corp. (T:6857), which fell 6.56% or 146.0 points to trade at 2081.0 at the close. Pioneer Corp. (T:6773) declined 5.63% or 12.0 points to end at 201.0 and Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (T:6504) was down 3.93% or 25.0 points to 611.0. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1869 to 1191 and 289 ended unchanged.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.33% to 14.69 a new 1-month low. Crude oil for June delivery was up 0.94% or 0.46 to $49.43 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July rose 0.93% or 0.48 to hit $52.30 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.15% or 1.91 to trade at $1267.81 a troy ounce. USD/JPY was up 0.03% to 111.30, while EUR/JPY rose 0.18% to 121.23. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 98.91.
