Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.32%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Power , Machinery and Transportation Equipment sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.32%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Toshiba Corp. (T: 6502 ), which rose 4.19% or 13.0 points to trade at 323.5 at the close. Comsys Holdings Corp. (T: 1721 ) added 3.76% or 115.0 points to end at 3175.0 and SUMCO Corp. (T: 3436 ) was up 2.38% or 65.0 points to 2791.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Rakuten Inc (T: 4755 ), which lost 4.87% or 55.5 points to trade at 1084.5 in late trade. NKSJ Holdings, Inc. (T: 8630 ) declined 4.32% or 195.0 points to end at 4315.0 and Casio Computer Co., Ltd. (T: 6952 ) shed 2.89% or 48.0 points to 1612.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2145 to 1206 and 207 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.07% to 14.74 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.25% or 0.14 to $56.74 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.58% or 0.36 to hit $62.80 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.80% or 10.00 to trade at $1258.60 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.21% to 112.78, while EUR/JPY rose 0.13% to 133.26.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 93.50.