Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Banking, Pharmaceutical Industry and Transport sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.44%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (TYO:3086), which rose 3.04% or 34.00 points to trade at 1,153.00 at the close. Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (TYO:8233) added 2.47% or 42.00 points to end at 1,744.00 and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Ltd. (TYO:5901) was up 1.58% or 25.00 points to 1,611.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (TYO:7211), which lost 5.26% or 26.00 points to trade at 468.00 in late trade. Mazda Motor Corp (TYO:7261) declined 5.10% or 51.00 points to end at 949.00 and Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (TYO:5202) shed 4.89% or 30.00 points to 583.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2167 to 1313 and 319 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.14% to 19.15.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.95% or 0.76 to $79.04 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 0.72% or 0.61 to hit $84.37 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.19% or 3.70 to trade at $1,910.70 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.61% to 128.10, while EUR/JPY fell 0.50% to 138.40.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 102.05.