Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.59%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Transportation Equipment, Rubber and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.59%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (TYO:7211), which rose 9.29% or 39.10 points to trade at 460.00 at the close. Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO:9531) added 6.71% or 237.00 points to end at 3,769.00 and DeNA Co Ltd (TYO:2432) was up 6.64% or 117.50 points to 1,886.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included M3 Inc (TYO:2413), which lost 13.53% or 248.00 points to trade at 1,585.50 in late trade. Kyocera Corp. (TYO:6971) declined 10.42% or 183.00 points to end at 1,573.00 and Hino Motors, Ltd. (TYO:7205) shed 6.82% or 27.70 points to 378.40.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2371 to 1224 and 243 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 11.79% to 25.97.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for December delivery was up 0.52% or 0.36 to $68.97 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in January rose 0.51% or 0.37 to hit $72.53 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract fell 0.22% or 6.20 to trade at $2,794.60 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.34% to 152.89, while EUR/JPY fell 0.40% to 165.89.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 104.01.