Investing.com – Japan stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Financial Services, Paper & Pulp and Banking sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.39%.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Asahi Kasei Corp. (T:3407), which rose 4.51% or 34.9 points to trade at 809.4 at the close. Meanwhile, Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T:5707) added 2.91% or 9.0 points to end at 318.0 and Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T:9501) was up 2.86% or 22.0 points to 792.0 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (T:6770), which fell 3.96% or 165.0 points to trade at 4000.0 at the close. Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. (T:4041) declined 3.95% or 31.0 points to end at 753.0 and Oji Holdings Corp. (T:3861) was down 2.60% or 15.0 points to 562.0.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1314 to 559.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 2.83% to 20.73.
Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.88% or 0.38 to $43.02 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in January rose 0.50% or 0.23 to hit $46.34 a barrel, while the December Gold contract rose 0.34% or 3.70 to trade at $1078.60 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.18% to 122.30, while EUR/JPY rose 0.01% to 130.45.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.21% at 99.47.