Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.78%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Marine Transport, Food and Transportation Equipment sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.78%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (TYO:7012), which rose 7.26% or 333.00 points to trade at 4,918.00 at the close. Kuraray Co., Ltd. (TYO:3405) added 4.18% or 78.50 points to end at 1,955.00 and Shiseido Co., Ltd. (TYO:4911) was up 4.14% or 133.00 points to 3,345.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Astellas Pharma Inc. (TYO:4503), which lost 4.72% or 84.50 points to trade at 1,705.00 in late trade. Konami Corp. (TYO:9766) declined 3.80% or 535.00 points to end at 13,550.00 and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (TYO:2802) shed 3.61% or 198.00 points to 5,285.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2348 to 1232 and 262 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.65% to 26.73.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for October delivery was up 0.57% or 0.39 to $69.36 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in November rose 0.54% or 0.39 to hit $72.36 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.50% or 12.90 to trade at $2,593.50 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.49% to 141.10, while EUR/JPY fell 0.50% to 156.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 101.14.