Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Mining, Power and Gas & Water sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.60% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T:5301), which rose 3.01% or 42.0 points to trade at 1438.0 at the close. Advantest Corp. (T:6857) added 2.76% or 59.0 points to end at 2198.0 and Suzuki Motor Corp. (T:7269) was up 2.46% or 137.0 points to 5699.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Inpex Corp. (T:1605), which lost 7.20% or 78.0 points to trade at 1006.0 in late trade. The Kansai Electric Power Co. (T:9503) declined 5.31% or 93.0 points to end at 1657.0 and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107) shed 5.14% or 80.0 points to 1475.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2031 to 1523 and 185 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 9.64% to 22.64.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.43% or 0.20 to $46.80 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.73% or 0.41 to hit $56.67 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.09% or 1.10 to trade at $1254.70 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.14% to 112.36, while EUR/JPY rose 0.19% to 128.08.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.28% at 96.297.