Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Mining, Shipbuilding and Gas & Water sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.68% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (TYO:8316), which rose 4.12% or 205.00 points to trade at 5,179.00 at the close. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (TYO:8306) added 3.92% or 32.10 points to end at 850.50 and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings (TYO:8309) was up 3.24% or 144.00 points to 4,583.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Hino Motors, Ltd. (TYO:7205), which lost 5.00% or 27.00 points to trade at 513.00 in late trade. Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd. (TYO:8804) declined 4.71% or 82.00 points to end at 1,660.00 and Fujikura Ltd. (TYO:5803) shed 4.61% or 49.00 points to 1,014.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2488 to 1107 and 241 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 6.25% to 18.87.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was down 0.26% or 0.20 to $76.03 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.19% or 0.15 to hit $79.84 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.00% or 0.05 to trade at $1,825.35 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.23% to 132.01, while EUR/JPY rose 0.31% to 140.31.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 103.64.