Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Transport, Financial Services and Railway & Bus sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 1.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc (T:8750), which rose 2.27% or 54.50 points to trade at 2,451.50 at the close. Keio Corp. (T:9008) added 2.05% or 100.00 points to end at 4,985.00 and Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd (T:5019) was up 1.67% or 55.00 points to 3,355.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107), which lost 6.08% or 460.00 points to trade at 7,110.00 in late trade. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (T:9104) declined 5.25% or 170.00 points to end at 3,070.00 and Nippon Yusen K.K (T:9101) shed 5.20% or 520.00 points to 9,480.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2795 to 772 and 197 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 11.99% to 18.72 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 0.58% or 0.59 to $102.55 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.64% or 0.68 to hit $107.32 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.42% or 8.00 to trade at $1,919.50 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.21% to 123.86, while EUR/JPY rose 0.06% to 134.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23% at 99.65.