Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Rubber, Steel and Chemical sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sekisui House, Ltd. (T:1928), which rose 2.90% or 52.5 points to trade at 1864.0 at the close. SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. (T:9412) added 2.83% or 14.0 points to end at 509.0 and Toshiba Corp. (T:6502) was up 1.90% or 4.1 points to 220.2 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (T:3099), which lost 3.96% or 54.0 points to trade at 1311.0 in late trade. Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. (T:4021) declined 2.68% or 95.0 points to end at 3450.0 and Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T:5707) shed 2.55% or 15.0 points to 573.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1648 to 1306 and 380 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.11% to 14.65 a new 52-week low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was down 0.56% or 0.30 to $52.84 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 0.43% or 0.24 to hit $55.68 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.06% or 0.75 to trade at $1215.35 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.13% to 113.83, while EUR/JPY fell 0.22% to 120.22.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 101.84.