Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Transport, Gas & Water and Steel sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.17%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Recruit Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:6098), which rose 4.78% or 167.00 points to trade at 3,660.00 at the close. NH Foods Ltd (TYO:2282) added 2.61% or 100.00 points to end at 3,925.00 and Okuma Corp. (TYO:6103) was up 2.14% or 120.00 points to 5,740.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc (TYO:8750), which lost 2.76% or 66.50 points to trade at 2,345.00 in late trade. T&D Holdings, Inc. (TYO:8795) declined 2.68% or 43.00 points to end at 1,559.00 and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TYO:4502) shed 2.61% or 114.00 points to 4,251.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2195 to 1318 and 298 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 10.18% to 20.48.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.86% or 0.61 to $70.29 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 0.74% or 0.57 to hit $76.12 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 1.70% or 33.05 to trade at $1,982.65 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.54% to 130.73, while EUR/JPY rose 0.02% to 142.71.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.32% at 101.64.