Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.38%

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 fell 0.38%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (T: 4005 ), which rose 9.65% or 41.0 points to trade at 466.0 at the close. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T: 9501 ) added 7.63% or 27.0 points to end at 381.0 and Toray Industries, Inc. (T: 3402 ) was up 5.45% or 36.4 points to 704.9 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (T: 4568 ), which lost 3.97% or 149.0 points to trade at 3601.0 in late trade. Keio Corp. (T: 9008 ) declined 3.90% or 330.0 points to end at 8140.0 and ANA Holdings Inc (T: 9202 ) shed 3.35% or 77.5 points to 2232.5.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1844 to 1650 and 245 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 24.29 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.81% or 0.43 to $53.41 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.73% or 0.41 to hit $56.31 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.69% or 12.70 to trade at $1852.90 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.14% to 103.75, while EUR/JPY rose 0.10% to 126.11.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 90.287.