Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 2.94%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Automobiles & Parts , Glass and Transportation Equipment sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 2.94% to hit a new 52-week low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (T: 5711 ), which rose 8.12% or 171.00 points to trade at 2,278.00 at the close. Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd (T: 5019 ) added 6.84% or 235.00 points to end at 3,670.00 and Inpex Corp. (T: 1605 ) was up 6.81% or 91.00 points to 1,428.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Hino Motors, Ltd. (T: 7205 ), which lost 16.76% or 150.00 points to trade at 745.00 in late trade. Japan Steel Works Ltd (T: 5631 ) declined 10.37% or 380.00 points to end at 3,285.00 and Isuzu Motors, Ltd. (T: 7202 ) shed 9.13% or 139.00 points to 1,384.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 3266 to 433 and 106 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 8.87% to 27.99.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 8.39% or 9.70 to $125.38 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 9.09% or 10.74 to hit $128.85 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 1.17% or 23.10 to trade at $1,989.70 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.27% to 115.08, while EUR/JPY fell 0.10% to 125.29.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 98.82.