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

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.39%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Denki Kagaku Kogyo K.K. (T: 4061 ), which rose 3.40% or 14.0 points to trade at 426.0 at the close. Toshiba Corp. (T: 6502 ) added 3.24% or 11.5 points to end at 366.9 and Pioneer Corp. (T: 6773 ) was up 2.71% or 6.0 points to 227.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. (T: 5002 ), which lost 4.04% or 40.0 points to trade at 950.0 in late trade. Kobe Steel, Ltd. (T: 5406 ) declined 3.33% or 29.0 points to end at 841.5 and Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (T: 5202 ) shed 3.23% or 27.0 points to 808.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1180 to 758 and 130 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.56% to 21.25.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for November delivery was down 0.76% or 0.38 to $49.80 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in December fell 0.62% or 0.32 to hit $51.49 a barrel, while the December Gold contract rose 0.58% or 7.25 to trade at $1261.05 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.32% to 103.88, while EUR/JPY fell 0.26% to 114.42.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.03% at 97.96.