Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.25%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gas&Water, Fishery and Retail sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.25%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Yaskawa Electric Corp. (TYO:6506), which rose 5.59% or 253.00 points to trade at 4,782.00 at the close. Fanuc Corp. (TYO:6954) added 4.53% or 179.00 points to end at 4,130.00 and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (TYO:5713) was up 4.50% or 179.00 points to 4,155.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kyowa Kirin Co Ltd (TYO:4151), which lost 13.11% or 406.50 points to trade at 2,693.50 in late trade. Resona Holdings, Inc. (TYO:8308) declined 5.11% or 51.20 points to end at 951.30 and Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. (TYO:8766) shed 4.04% or 220.00 points to 5,225.00.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1810 to 1777 and 286 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.20% to 25.73.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for November delivery was down 0.32% or 0.23 to $71.33 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in December fell 0.26% or 0.19 to hit $74.28 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.13% or 3.40 to trade at $2,680.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.17% to 143.45, while EUR/JPY rose 0.27% to 160.56.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 100.01.