Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Transportation Equipment, Warehousing and Banking sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.66%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kobe Steel, Ltd. (TYO:5406), which rose 4.78% or 40.00 points to trade at 877.00 at the close. Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) added 4.29% or 212.00 points to end at 5,148.00 and Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp (TYO:4188) was up 3.72% or 28.90 points to 805.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Rakuten Inc (TYO:4755), which lost 5.17% or 37.00 points to trade at 679.00 in late trade. Recruit Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:6098) declined 3.95% or 158.00 points to end at 3,841.00 and Okuma Corp. (TYO:6103) shed 2.63% or 140.00 points to 5,180.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2098 to 1425 and 293 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.43% to 15.14 a new 3-year low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 1.34% or 1.05 to $77.44 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 1.22% or 1.04 to hit $84.10 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 1.08% or 20.05 to trade at $1,831.75 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.62% to 134.77, while EUR/JPY rose 0.33% to 143.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.55% at 104.36.