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

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Mining , Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Fishery sectors propelled shares lower.

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

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Konami Corp. (T: 9766 ), which rose 3.23% or 250.00 points to trade at 8,000.00 at the close. Pacific Metals Co., Ltd. (T: 5541 ) added 2.91% or 120.00 points to end at 4,250.00 and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T: 4506 ) was up 2.73% or 33.00 points to 1,241.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nippon Yusen K.K (T: 9101 ), which lost 6.88% or 740.00 points to trade at 10,020.00 in late trade. Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 7762 ) declined 5.76% or 30.00 points to end at 491.00 and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T: 9107 ) shed 4.99% or 400.00 points to 7,620.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1804 to 1721 and 245 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.66% to 22.37 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 1.70% or 1.70 to $98.58 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 1.45% or 1.52 to hit $103.19 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.99% or 19.30 to trade at $1,929.90 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.74% to 122.57, while EUR/JPY rose 0.61% to 135.46.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 98.59.