Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Transportation Equipment, Retail and Communication sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.56%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (T:3086), which rose 7.40% or 73.0 points to trade at 1059.0 at the close. Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366) added 6.01% or 20.0 points to end at 353.0 and Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T:9501) was up 3.45% or 10.0 points to 300.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sapporo Holdings Ltd. (T:2501), which lost 3.79% or 86.0 points to trade at 2185.0 in late trade. AGC Inc (T:5201) declined 3.19% or 180.0 points to end at 5470.0 and Bridgestone Corp. (T:5108) shed 3.06% or 156.0 points to 4940.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2744 to 919 and 120 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 4.52% to 19.64.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.14% or 0.11 to $76.09 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.24% or 0.19 to hit $78.86 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.33% or 5.90 to trade at $1805.00 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.08% to 114.90, while EUR/JPY fell 0.01% to 129.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 96.230.