Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Retail, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Marine Transport sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.31%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. (T:5002), which rose 8.54% or 136.0 points to trade at 1728.0 at the close. JX Holdings, Inc. (T:5020) added 6.30% or 46.4 points to end at 782.4 and Oji Holdings Corp. (T:3861) was up 4.75% or 32.0 points to 705.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Japan Tobacco Inc (T:2914), which lost 3.91% or 124.0 points to trade at 3048.0 in late trade. Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T:5301) declined 3.73% or 74.0 points to end at 1908.0 and Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd. (T:5214) shed 3.26% or 100.0 points to 2965.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1841 to 1503 and 184 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.64% to 18.53.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.23% or 0.16 to $70.69 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.22% or 0.17 to hit $76.31 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 0.11% or 1.40 to trade at $1258.50 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.22% to 109.82, while EUR/JPY fell 0.35% to 127.74.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 94.47.