Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.29%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Retail , Chemical and Electrical/Machinery sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.29%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (T: 7003 ), which rose 2.94% or 33.0 points to trade at 1155.0 at the close. Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T: 8035 ) added 2.61% or 340.0 points to end at 13390.0 and Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T: 7735 ) was up 2.51% or 120.0 points to 4905.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kao Corp. (T: 4452 ), which lost 5.45% or 425.0 points to trade at 7373.0 in late trade. Kikkoman Corp. (T: 2801 ) declined 4.83% or 290.0 points to end at 5720.0 and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T: 4506 ) shed 4.56% or 175.0 points to 3665.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2362 to 1158 and 188 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.81% to 23.30.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was down 1.47% or 0.77 to $51.59 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 1.43% or 0.88 to hit $60.56 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.38% or 4.90 to trade at $1296.90 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.21% to 107.94, while EUR/JPY fell 0.16% to 124.62.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 94.800.