Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.25%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Banking , Mining and Services sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.25%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T: 7735 ), which rose 3.51% or 42.0 points to trade at 1238.0 at the close. East Japan Railway Co. (T: 9020 ) added 3.44% or 325.0 points to end at 9762.0 and Taisei Corp. (T: 1801 ) was up 2.77% or 24.0 points to 890.5 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Tokuyama Corp. (T: 4043 ), which lost 5.94% or 19.0 points to trade at 301.0 in late trade. Nippon Meat Packers, Inc. (T: 2282 ) declined 5.79% or 154.0 points to end at 2505.0 and SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. (T: 9412 ) shed 4.80% or 23.0 points to 456.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1003 to 872 and 182 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.02% to 28.56.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was up 0.04% or 0.02 to $45.47 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.06% or 0.03 to hit $46.69 a barrel, while the August Gold contract fell 0.29% or 3.80 to trade at $1328.50 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.11% to 106.25, while EUR/JPY fell 0.04% to 116.90.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.16% at 97.22.