Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.58%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Transport , Financial Services and Railway & Bus sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 1.58%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc (T: 8750 ), which rose 2.27% or 54.50 points to trade at 2,451.50 at the close. Keio Corp. (T: 9008 ) added 2.05% or 100.00 points to end at 4,985.00 and Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd (T: 5019 ) was up 1.67% or 55.00 points to 3,355.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T: 9107 ), which lost 6.08% or 460.00 points to trade at 7,110.00 in late trade. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (T: 9104 ) declined 5.25% or 170.00 points to end at 3,070.00 and Nippon Yusen K.K (T: 9101 ) shed 5.20% or 520.00 points to 9,480.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2795 to 772 and 197 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 11.99% to 18.72 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 0.58% or 0.59 to $102.55 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.64% or 0.68 to hit $107.32 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.42% or 8.00 to trade at $1,919.50 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.21% to 123.86, while EUR/JPY rose 0.06% to 134.85.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23% at 99.65.