Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.95%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Steel , Finance & Investment and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.95%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Asahi Kasei Corp. (T: 3407 ), which rose 2.88% or 31.5 points to trade at 1125.0 at the close. Toshiba Corp. (T: 6502 ) added 2.58% or 6.6 points to end at 262.4 and Advantest Corp. (T: 6857 ) was up 2.33% or 48.0 points to 2106.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Astellas Pharma Inc. (T: 4503 ), which lost 4.10% or 58.0 points to trade at 1356.0 in late trade. Hino Motors, Ltd. (T: 7205 ) declined 3.88% or 51.0 points to end at 1264.0 and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (T: 4519 ) shed 3.55% or 155.0 points to 4210.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2514 to 595 and 243 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 4.92% to 14.31.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for July delivery was down 0.42% or 0.20 to $47.20 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August fell 0.40% or 0.20 to hit $49.27 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.73% or 9.31 to trade at $1292.01 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.73% to 109.66, while EUR/JPY fell 0.78% to 123.36.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 96.66.