After the close of trading on Thursday, Japan’s stocks showed gains, with increases in the Transportation Equipment, Pharmaceutical Industry, and Marine Transport sectors leading the market higher.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose by 0.14%.
Among the best performers on the Nikkei 225 were Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857), which surged by 5.06% or 276.00 points to reach 5,742.00 at the close. Concordia Financial Group Ltd (TYO:7186) added 4.82% or 37.20 points to end at 808.80, while Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:4506) was up 3.68% or 14.00 points, closing at 393.00.
On the other hand, the worst performers included Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (TYO:4901), which fell by 3.13% or 108.00 points to close at 3,347.00. Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (TYO:9007) declined by 3.00% or 56.00 points to end at 1,810.00, and Rakuten Inc (TYO:4755) was down by 1.91% or 15.30 points, closing at 781.70.
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, rising stocks outnumbered declining ones by 2842 to 819, while 200 ended unchanged.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, rose by 6.20% to 22.09, marking a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, crude oil for May delivery was up by 0.15% to $82.81 a barrel. Brent oil for delivery in June rose by 0.22% to hit $87.48 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose by 0.21% to trade at $2,393.45 a troy ounce.
The USD/JPY pair was down by 0.14% to 154.17, while the EUR/JPY pair rose by 0.01% to 164.79.
The US Dollar Index Futures fell by 0.16% to 105.59.