Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.61%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Precision Instruments, Automobiles&Parts and Power sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.61%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. (TYO:5802), which rose 6.53% or 176.50 points to trade at 2,880.00 at the close. Mercari Inc (TYO:4385) added 6.16% or 111.00 points to end at 1,914.00 and Sapporo Holdings Ltd. (TYO:2501) was up 5.78% or 419.00 points to 7,669.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kansai Electric Power Co Inc (TYO:9503), which lost 18.46% or 442.50 points to trade at 1,954.50 in late trade. Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (TYO:7911) declined 8.14% or 378.00 points to end at 4,265.00 and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO:4506) shed 6.49% or 41.00 points to 591.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2383 to 1235 and 236 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.66% to 23.08 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for December delivery was down 0.67% or 0.46 to $67.97 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in January fell 0.61% or 0.44 to hit $71.84 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract fell 0.99% or 25.60 to trade at $2,560.90 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.32% to 155.95, while EUR/JPY rose 0.12% to 164.40.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 106.61.