Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Automobiles & Parts, Real Estate and Electrical/Machinery sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.03% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kansai Electric Power Co Inc (TYO:9503), which rose 5.28% or 63.00 points to trade at 1,257.00 at the close. Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (TYO:8354) added 4.77% or 139.00 points to end at 3,050.00 and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings (TYO:8725) was up 4.33% or 180.00 points to 4,335.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857), which lost 4.49% or 400.00 points to trade at 8,500.00 in late trade. Sapporo Holdings Ltd. (TYO:2501) declined 3.97% or 135.00 points to end at 3,265.00 and Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (TYO:5202) shed 3.84% or 22.00 points to 551.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2537 to 1059 and 242 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.08% to 20.74.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 1.10% or 0.85 to $78.34 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 1.61% or 1.30 to hit $82.28 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.53% or 9.60 to trade at $1,804.90 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.17% to 132.55, while EUR/JPY rose 0.41% to 140.76.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.15% at 103.97.