Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Gas & Water, Transportation Equipment and Railway & Bus sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.73% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Toshiba Corp. (T:6502), which rose 6.06% or 13.8 points to trade at 241.7 at the close. Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (T:9531) added 2.82% or 13.9 points to end at 506.6 and Fujikura Ltd. (T:5803) was up 2.04% or 16.0 points to 801.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (T:4506), which lost 3.72% or 71.0 points to trade at 1838.0 in late trade. Tokuyama Corp. (T:4043) declined 3.58% or 20.0 points to end at 538.0 and Shiseido Co., Ltd. (T:4911) shed 3.55% or 108.0 points to 2930.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2279 to 803 and 265 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 4.20% to 17.60.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.10% or 0.05 to $50.30 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 0.19% or 0.10 to hit $53.03 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.27% or 3.30 to trade at $1241.70 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.04% to 111.88, while EUR/JPY rose 0.08% to 119.57.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 100.38.