Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Finance & Investment, Gas & Water and Financial Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.52%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (T:6976), which rose 4.23% or 75.0 points to trade at 1847.0 at the close. Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (T:2502) added 3.93% or 172.0 points to end at 4545.0 and IHI Corp. (T:7013) was up 2.41% or 80.0 points to 3400.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506), which lost 18.59% or 700.0 points to trade at 3065.0 in late trade. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. (T:8601) declined 6.22% or 35.7 points to end at 538.2 and Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (T:6770) shed 3.04% or 69.0 points to 2199.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2801 to 694 and 168 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.35% to 20.06.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.21% or 0.11 to $53.42 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.29% or 0.18 to hit $61.38 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.42% or 5.45 to trade at $1314.35 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.05% to 109.32, while EUR/JPY rose 0.03% to 125.06.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 95.453.