Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Insurance, Precision Instruments and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Toho Zinc Co., Ltd. (T:5707), which rose 4.68% or 14.0 points to trade at 313.0 at the close. Toshiba Corp. (T:6502) added 4.28% or 8.2 points to end at 200.0 and DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (T:5714) was up 3.55% or 24.0 points to 701.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included SUMCO Corp. (T:3436), which lost 5.97% or 48.0 points to trade at 756.0 in late trade. Nitto Denko Co (T:6988) declined 4.77% or 336.0 points to end at 6704.0 and Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (T:6976) shed 4.01% or 49.0 points to 1172.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1250 to 533 and 107 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 6.65% to 25.35.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 0.12% or 0.05 to $40.25 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $41.55 a barrel, while the April Gold contract fell 0.02% or 0.30 to trade at $1264.70 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.12% to 111.26, while EUR/JPY fell 0.34% to 125.64.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.15% at 94.91.