Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.49%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.49%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (T: 2802 ), which rose 2.45% or 55.5 points to trade at 2319.0 at the close. Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. (T: 8766 ) added 2.21% or 111.0 points to end at 5129.0 and Nikon Corp. (T: 7731 ) was up 2.13% or 35.0 points to 1679.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Toshiba Corp. (T: 6502 ), which lost 3.43% or 7.2 points to trade at 202.6 in late trade. DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 5714 ) declined 3.24% or 32.0 points to end at 957.0 and Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (T: 9983 ) shed 2.86% or 1060.0 points to 35990.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1591 to 1331 and 427 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.76% to 17.35 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.11% or 0.06 to $53.05 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $55.74 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 0.07% or 0.90 to trade at $1234.00 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.15% to 113.97, while EUR/JPY fell 0.07% to 120.91.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 101.00.