Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Mining and Insurance sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.35%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T:7735), which rose 6.81% or 360.0 points to trade at 5650.0 at the close. Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T:8035) added 4.85% or 710.0 points to end at 15355.0 and Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (T:5301) was up 4.81% or 76.0 points to 1655.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (T:8233), which lost 15.94% or 302.0 points to trade at 1593.0 in late trade. Olympus Corp. (T:7733) declined 8.69% or 315.0 points to end at 3310.0 and Meidensha Corp. (T:6508) shed 4.14% or 63.0 points to 1457.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2332 to 1182 and 195 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.88% to 21.19.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 1.95% or 1.04 to $54.47 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in January rose 1.33% or 0.83 to hit $63.36 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.29% or 3.50 to trade at $1224.70 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.07% to 112.85, while EUR/JPY rose 0.31% to 128.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 96.54.