Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Pharmaceutical Industry and Retail sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.49%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO:9531), which rose 5.12% or 182.00 points to trade at 3,738.00 at the close. Japan Steel Works Ltd (TYO:5631) added 4.03% or 145.00 points to end at 3,744.00 and Teijin Ltd. (TYO:3401) was up 3.81% or 55.00 points to 1,501.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included IHI Corp. (TYO:7013), which lost 5.44% or 216.00 points to trade at 3,766.00 in late trade. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TYO:4519) declined 3.00% or 162.00 points to end at 5,222.00 and CyberAgent Inc (TYO:4751) shed 2.75% or 30.00 points to 1,059.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1904 to 1697 and 270 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.12% to 21.24.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 0.33% or 0.28 to $85.51 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.31% or 0.28 to hit $89.70 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.59% or 13.85 to trade at $2,376.25 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.02% to 151.80, while EUR/JPY fell 0.05% to 164.70.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 103.93.