Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 6.02% to hit a new 3-year low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp (T:4188), which rose 3.48% or 21.0 points to trade at 625.2 at the close. Tokyo Dome Corp. (T:9681) added 1.42% or 10.0 points to end at 716.0 and Astellas Pharma Inc. (T:4503) was up 1.22% or 19.0 points to 1579.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd. (T:8804), which lost 14.68% or 174.0 points to trade at 1011.0 in late trade. Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. (T:8830) declined 13.38% or 397.0 points to end at 2571.0 and Inpex Corp. (T:1605) shed 12.15% or 82.4 points to 596.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 3665 to 124 and 26 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 51.48 a new 5-year high.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 3.94% or 1.24 to $32.74 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 3.52% or 1.17 to hit $34.39 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.14% or 2.15 to trade at $1588.15 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 1.15% to 105.83, while EUR/JPY rose 1.19% to 118.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 97.502.