Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Insurance, Non-Metal Minerals and Manufacturing sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 1.18%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were ANA Holdings Inc (T:9202), which rose 1.28% or 54.0 points to trade at 4278.5 at the close. Toshiba Corp. (T:6502) added 1.28% or 4.0 points to end at 316.5 and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506) was up 1.26% or 27.0 points to 2165.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included NGK Insulators, Ltd. (T:5333), which lost 5.29% or 112.0 points to trade at 2006.0 in late trade. Inpex Corp. (T:1605) declined 4.51% or 61.5 points to end at 1302.5 and NSK Ltd. (T:6471) shed 3.69% or 53.0 points to 1384.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2075 to 1260 and 233 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.27% to 14.21 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for July delivery was down 0.43% or 0.31 to $71.89 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in July fell 0.58% or 0.46 to hit $79.11 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.03% or 0.40 to trade at $1291.60 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.92% to 109.88, while EUR/JPY fell 1.45% to 128.76.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 93.81.