Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Transportation Equipment, Gas & Water and Rubber sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.49%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (T:2802), which rose 2.45% or 55.5 points to trade at 2319.0 at the close. Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. (T:8766) added 2.21% or 111.0 points to end at 5129.0 and Nikon Corp. (T:7731) was up 2.13% or 35.0 points to 1679.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Toshiba Corp. (T:6502), which lost 3.43% or 7.2 points to trade at 202.6 in late trade. DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (T:5714) declined 3.24% or 32.0 points to end at 957.0 and Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (T:9983) shed 2.86% or 1060.0 points to 35990.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1591 to 1331 and 427 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.76% to 17.35 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.11% or 0.06 to $53.05 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $55.74 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 0.07% or 0.90 to trade at $1234.00 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.15% to 113.97, while EUR/JPY fell 0.07% to 120.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 101.00.