Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.56%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Transportation Equipment , Retail and Communication sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.56%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (T: 3086 ), which rose 7.40% or 73.0 points to trade at 1059.0 at the close. Chiyoda Corp. (T: 6366 ) added 6.01% or 20.0 points to end at 353.0 and Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T: 9501 ) was up 3.45% or 10.0 points to 300.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Sapporo Holdings Ltd. (T: 2501 ), which lost 3.79% or 86.0 points to trade at 2185.0 in late trade. AGC Inc (T: 5201 ) declined 3.19% or 180.0 points to end at 5470.0 and Bridgestone Corp. (T: 5108 ) shed 3.06% or 156.0 points to 4940.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2744 to 919 and 120 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 4.52% to 19.64.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.14% or 0.11 to $76.09 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.24% or 0.19 to hit $78.86 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.33% or 5.90 to trade at $1805.00 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.08% to 114.90, while EUR/JPY fell 0.01% to 129.83.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 96.230.