Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Insurance, Transportation Equipment and Power sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.97%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO:9531), which rose 4.94% or 213.00 points to trade at 4,528.00 at the close. M3 Inc (TYO:2413) added 4.43% or 61.00 points to end at 1,437.50 and Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (TYO:5233) was up 3.81% or 131.00 points to 3,566.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included IHI Corp. (TYO:7013), which lost 3.94% or 358.00 points to trade at 8,721.00 in late trade. Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. (TYO:8830) declined 3.44% or 161.00 points to end at 4,522.00 and East Japan Railway Co. (TYO:9020) shed 3.27% or 94.00 points to 2,779.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1782 to 1746 and 337 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.63% to 24.65.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.80% or 0.55 to $69.30 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in January rose 0.74% or 0.54 to hit $73.35 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.44% or 11.70 to trade at $2,663.40 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.32% to 154.93, while EUR/JPY fell 0.32% to 163.37.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 106.52.