Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.13%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Insurance , Pharmaceutical Industry and Power sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.13%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TYO: 7735 ), which rose 2.83% or 320.00 points to trade at 11,640.00 at the close. Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (TYO: 9007 ) added 2.25% or 37.00 points to end at 1,682.00 and SUMCO Corp. (TYO: 3436 ) was up 2.25% or 43.00 points to 1,954.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Hitachi Zosen Corp. (TYO: 7004 ), which lost 4.15% or 36.00 points to trade at 831.00 in late trade. DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (TYO: 5714 ) declined 2.92% or 125.00 points to end at 4,160.00 and Terumo Corp. (TYO: 4543 ) shed 2.79% or 99.00 points to 3,448.00.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1826 to 1679 and 321 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 10.18% to 20.48.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 0.43% or 0.30 to $70.26 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.37% or 0.28 to hit $76.19 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.30% or 5.95 to trade at $1,989.95 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.36% to 130.35, while EUR/JPY fell 0.37% to 141.15.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 102.22.