Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gas & Water, Shipbuilding and Transportation Equipment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.69%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Astellas Pharma Inc. (T:4503), which rose 5.80% or 110.00 points to trade at 2,008.00 at the close. Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (T:4568) added 2.87% or 79.00 points to end at 2,832.00 and Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. (T:4151) was up 2.87% or 80.00 points to 2,863.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T:8035), which lost 5.45% or 3,180.00 points to trade at 55,190.00 in late trade. Advantest Corp. (T:6857) declined 5.44% or 500.00 points to end at 8,690.00 and Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (T:5202) shed 4.98% or 20.00 points to 382.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 3121 to 483 and 158 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 8.71% to 19.97.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 1.20% or 1.15 to $97.38 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 1.22% or 1.23 to hit $102.30 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.17% or 3.25 to trade at $1,926.35 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.01% to 123.78, while EUR/JPY rose 0.03% to 134.89.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 99.61.