Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.77%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 1.77% to hit a new 1-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Keio Corp. (TYO: 9008 ), which rose 5.50% or 245.00 points to trade at 4,700.00 at the close. Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd. (TYO: 2269 ) added 3.04% or 190.00 points to end at 6,450.00 and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO: 9532 ) was up 2.83% or 69.00 points to 2,505.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (TYO: 5301 ), which lost 7.37% or 86.00 points to trade at 1,081.00 in late trade. Showa Denko K.K. (TYO: 4004 ) declined 6.29% or 162.00 points to end at 2,413.00 and SUMCO Corp. (TYO: 3436 ) shed 5.88% or 118.00 points to 1,890.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2834 to 768 and 176 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.69% to 25.34.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for July delivery was up 0.52% or 0.61 to $118.20 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August rose 0.48% or 0.58 to hit $120.39 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.02% or 0.30 to trade at $1,850.20 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 1.52% to 134.21, while EUR/JPY rose 1.35% to 141.32.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.55% at 103.99.