Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.31%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 1.31%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sharp Corp. (T: 6753 ), which rose 3.85% or 5.0 points to trade at 135.0 at the close. Olympus Corp. (T: 7733 ) added 2.38% or 100.0 points to end at 4300.0 and Denki Kagaku Kogyo K.K. (T: 4061 ) was up 1.32% or 6.0 points to 461.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (T: 5714 ), which lost 6.67% or 45.0 points to trade at 630.0 in late trade. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (T: 2802 ) declined 6.13% or 168.0 points to end at 2574.0 and Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (T: 6770 ) shed 5.94% or 123.0 points to 1946.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1400 to 446 and 60 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.22% to 23.48.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 0.89% or 0.34 to $38.62 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.63% or 0.25 to hit $40.10 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 0.19% or 2.40 to trade at $1239.90 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.34% to 112.32, while EUR/JPY fell 0.26% to 126.95.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.14% at 95.04.