Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.71%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Transport , Automobiles & Parts and Textile sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 1.71% to hit a new 52-week low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were CyberAgent Inc (T: 4751 ), which rose 2.65% or 36.00 points to trade at 1,395.00 at the close. AGC Inc (T: 5201 ) added 2.27% or 95.00 points to end at 4,280.00 and Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (T: 9147 ) was up 2.01% or 150.00 points to 7,610.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T: 5707 ), which lost 13.19% or 403.00 points to trade at 2,652.00 in late trade. Hino Motors, Ltd. (T: 7205 ) declined 12.21% or 91.00 points to end at 654.00 and Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (T: 5711 ) shed 8.60% or 196.00 points to 2,082.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2995 to 647 and 131 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 6.54% to 29.82 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 3.04% or 3.63 to $123.03 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 3.58% or 4.41 to hit $127.62 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 1.44% or 28.65 to trade at $2,024.55 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.13% to 115.43, while EUR/JPY rose 0.25% to 125.46.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 99.19.