Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.57%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp , Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.57% to hit a new 1-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were NEC Corp. (T: 6701 ), which rose 2.21% or 105.0 points to trade at 4850.0 at the close. Yokogawa Electric Corp. (T: 6841 ) added 1.99% or 40.0 points to end at 2048.0 and JFE Holdings, Inc. (T: 5411 ) was up 1.01% or 14.0 points to 1402.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T: 9107 ), which lost 5.93% or 105.0 points to trade at 1665.0 in late trade. Tokyu Fudosan (T: 3289 ) declined 4.11% or 31.0 points to end at 724.0 and Tosoh Corp. (T: 4042 ) shed 4.07% or 69.0 points to 1628.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 3239 to 449 and 105 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 15.11.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.83% or 0.52 to $63.22 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 1.10% or 0.75 to hit $69.02 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.99% or 15.65 to trade at $1589.95 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.01% to 108.41, while EUR/JPY fell 0.04% to 120.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 96.645.