Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.39%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Communication , Shipbuilding and Services sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.39% to hit a new 6-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Suzuki Motor Corp. (T: 7269 ), which rose 3.43% or 185.0 points to trade at 5577.0 at the close. Oji Holdings Corp. (T: 3861 ) added 3.02% or 22.0 points to end at 751.0 and Hitachi Ltd (T: 6501 ) was up 2.15% or 68.5 points to 3256.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Showa Denko K.K. (T: 4004 ), which lost 5.94% or 285.0 points to trade at 4515.0 in late trade. Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T: 5301 ) declined 5.88% or 100.0 points to end at 1600.0 and Canon Inc (T: 7751 ) shed 5.62% or 191.0 points to 3206.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2632 to 939 and 149 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 15.66% to 29.17 a new 6-month high.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for December delivery was down 0.70% or 0.47 to $66.86 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in December fell 0.35% or 0.27 to hit $76.62 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.84% or 10.30 to trade at $1239.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.33% to 112.05, while EUR/JPY fell 0.34% to 127.45.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 96.38.