Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.14%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gas & Water , Finance & Investment and Banking sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.14%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T: 5707 ), which rose 2.91% or 12.0 points to trade at 424.0 at the close. DeNA Co Ltd (T: 2432 ) added 2.51% or 62.0 points to end at 2535.0 and Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (T: 6770 ) was up 2.43% or 75.0 points to 3160.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Chiyoda Corp. (T: 6366 ), which lost 4.27% or 28.0 points to trade at 627.0 in late trade. Yokogawa Electric Corp. (T: 6841 ) declined 3.40% or 65.0 points to end at 1849.0 and NKSJ Holdings, Inc. (T: 8630 ) shed 3.38% or 149.0 points to 4259.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1707 to 1442 and 318 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.18% to 13.95.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was down 0.21% or 0.09 to $42.44 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August fell 0.20% or 0.09 to hit $44.73 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.61% or 7.55 to trade at $1253.35 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.31% to 111.04, while EUR/JPY fell 0.37% to 123.95.

The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 97.22.