Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.12%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Pharmaceutical Industry , Services and Retail sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.12%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Hino Motors, Ltd. (T: 7205 ), which rose 5.50% or 74.0 points to trade at 1420.0 at the close. Aeon Co., Ltd. (T: 8267 ) added 4.06% or 78.5 points to end at 2012.0 and Dentsu Inc. (T: 4324 ) was up 3.62% or 170.0 points to 4860.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (T: 5233 ), which lost 4.46% or 175.0 points to trade at 3750.0 in late trade. Showa Denko K.K. (T: 4004 ) declined 4.39% or 170.0 points to end at 3700.0 and Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T: 5301 ) shed 4.01% or 55.0 points to 1317.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1878 to 1419 and 250 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.33% to 20.89.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.07% or 0.05 to $66.77 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 0.21% or 0.15 to hit $71.91 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.52% or 7.10 to trade at $1352.90 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.08% to 106.88, while EUR/JPY rose 0.08% to 132.18.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 89.29.