Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Shipbuilding, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Financial Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.98%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Itochu Corp. (TYO:8001), which rose 6.37% or 405.00 points to trade at 6,768.00 at the close. Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO:9531) added 4.26% or 143.00 points to end at 3,505.00 and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:4506) was up 4.00% or 16.00 points to 416.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Shimizu Corp. (TYO:1803), which lost 8.96% or 86.20 points to trade at 874.30 in late trade. Nintendo Co Ltd (TYO:7974) declined 4.19% or 341.00 points to end at 7,798.00 and Ebara Corp. (TYO:6361) shed 3.56% or 490.00 points to 13,255.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1991 to 1645 and 242 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 5.82% to 19.65.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.02% or 0.02 to $85.13 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.08% or 0.07 to hit $88.99 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.87% or 19.85 to trade at $2,301.65 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.06% to 151.64, while EUR/JPY rose 0.07% to 163.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 104.54.