Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.34%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.34% to hit a new 6-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Familymart Ltd (T: 8028 ), which rose 4.71% or 780.0 points to trade at 17350.0 at the close. Softbank Corp. (T: 9984 ) added 2.45% or 211.0 points to end at 8827.0 and Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 9064 ) was up 2.37% or 70.0 points to 3018.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. (T: 5002 ), which lost 7.39% or 122.0 points to trade at 1528.0 in late trade. JX Holdings, Inc. (T: 5020 ) declined 6.66% or 43.0 points to end at 602.7 and Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T: 5707 ) shed 5.16% or 180.0 points to 3305.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2938 to 620 and 166 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 12.20% to 23.92 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.10% or 0.05 to $50.95 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.15% or 0.09 to hit $59.88 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.33% or 4.10 to trade at $1253.50 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.25% to 113.06, while EUR/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 128.71.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.25% at 96.940.