Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.73%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Mining , Shipbuilding and Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.73%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (TYO: 8233 ), which rose 8.80% or 117.00 points to trade at 1,447.00 at the close. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (TYO: 9501 ) added 2.12% or 12.00 points to end at 579.00 and Seiko Epson Cor (TYO: 6724 ) was up 2.03% or 39.00 points to 1,959.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO: 9531 ), which lost 9.83% or 276.00 points to trade at 2,531.00 in late trade. Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO: 9532 ) declined 6.93% or 180.00 points to end at 2,416.00 and TDK Corp (TYO: 6762 ) shed 5.97% or 250.00 points to 3,940.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2810 to 746 and 221 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.40% to 23.43.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was down 0.08% or 0.08 to $105.68 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.14% or 0.15 to hit $109.18 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 0.60% or 10.90 to trade at $1,796.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.45% to 135.12, while EUR/JPY fell 0.78% to 141.16.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.27% at 104.75.