Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Construction, Steel and Fishery sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.97% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Ube Industries, Ltd. (T:4208), which rose 1.14% or 3.0 points to trade at 267.0 at the close. SUMCO Corp. (T:3436) added 0.85% or 13.0 points to end at 1540.0 and Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366) was up 0.73% or 6.0 points to 832.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nippon Steel&Sumitomo Metal Corp. (T:5401), which lost 4.06% or 108.3 points to trade at 2558.9 in late trade. Unitika, Ltd. (T:3103) declined 3.53% or 3.0 points to end at 82.0 and Pacific Metals Co., Ltd. (T:5541) shed 2.76% or 10.0 points to 352.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2322 to 748 and 275 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 9.63% to 18.01.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.08% or 0.04 to $52.41 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.13% or 0.07 to hit $55.52 a barrel, while the February Gold contract rose 0.85% or 10.15 to trade at $1206.35 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.62% to 113.83, while EUR/JPY fell 0.84% to 120.91.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.22% at 101.39.