Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Machinery and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.21%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were IHI Corp. (TYO:7013), which rose 6.52% or 230.00 points to trade at 3,760.00 at the close. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (TYO:9104) added 3.86% or 125.00 points to end at 3,365.00 and Eisai Co., Ltd. (TYO:4523) was up 3.83% or 344.00 points to 9,332.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (TYO:5232), which lost 3.29% or 110.00 points to trade at 3,235.00 in late trade. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (TYO:9501) declined 3.29% or 17.00 points to end at 499.00 and Konami Corp. (TYO:9766) shed 3.15% or 210.00 points to 6,450.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2391 to 1141 and 276 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.97% to 18.71.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.73% or 0.57 to $78.77 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.76% or 0.64 to hit $84.89 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.31% or 5.40 to trade at $1,769.10 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.19% to 138.42, while EUR/JPY rose 0.05% to 143.29.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 106.55.