Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.20%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.20%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. (T: 4151 ), which rose 1.56% or 39.0 points to trade at 2537.0 at the close. Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. (T: 5706 ) added 1.50% or 42.0 points to end at 2838.0 and Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (T: 4568 ) was up 1.05% or 76.0 points to 7295.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (T: 7201 ), which lost 3.14% or 20.5 points to trade at 633.1 in late trade. Tokuyama Corp. (T: 4043 ) declined 2.74% or 81.0 points to end at 2878.0 and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (T: 7003 ) shed 2.65% or 24.0 points to 882.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2299 to 1180 and 247 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 13.93.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 1.01% or 0.61 to $61.13 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 1.22% or 0.81 to hit $67.20 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 1.05% or 15.70 to trade at $1504.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.02% to 109.36, while EUR/JPY fell 0.08% to 121.18.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 97.255.