Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Shipbuilding, Banking and Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.53%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506), which rose 5.36% or 205.0 points to trade at 4030.0 at the close. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107) added 4.95% or 75.0 points to end at 1590.0 and Nichirei Corp. (T:2871) was up 3.67% or 115.0 points to 3250.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T:7735), which lost 5.27% or 310.0 points to trade at 5570.0 in late trade. Advantest Corp. (T:6857) declined 4.60% or 111.0 points to end at 2300.0 and The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (T:8331) shed 4.39% or 32.0 points to 697.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2400 to 1091 and 217 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 7.21% to 18.89.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 1.60% or 0.85 to $52.40 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 1.61% or 1.00 to hit $61.08 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.48% or 6.00 to trade at $1240.60 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.20% to 113.01, while EUR/JPY rose 0.15% to 128.10.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 96.995.