Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Transportation Equipment, Gas & Water and Steel sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.42% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Pioneer Corp. (T:6773), which rose 4.02% or 8.0 points to trade at 207.0 at the close. The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. (T:8355) added 2.62% or 24.0 points to end at 940.0 and Unitika, Ltd. (T:3103) was up 2.47% or 2.0 points to 83.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nisshin Steel Holdings Co., Ltd. (T:5413), which lost 6.35% or 91.0 points to trade at 1342.0 in late trade. Kobe Steel, Ltd. (T:5406) declined 5.39% or 71.0 points to end at 1245.5 and JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) shed 4.37% or 94.0 points to 2059.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1606 to 1533 and 315 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.09% to 15.47.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for October delivery was down 0.52% or 0.25 to $48.16 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in October fell 0.44% or 0.23 to hit $52.34 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract fell 0.27% or 3.50 to trade at $1291.20 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.30% to 109.36, while EUR/JPY rose 0.14% to 128.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 93.29.