Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 4.41% to hit a new 52-week low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were NTT Docomo, Inc. (T:9437), which rose 1.16% or 33.5 points to trade at 2911.0 at the close. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (T:2802) fell 0.06% or 1.0 points to end at 1740.5 and Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. (T:1925) was down 0.72% or 19.5 points to 2689.5 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107), which lost 12.34% or 126.0 points to trade at 895.0 in late trade. Ricoh Co., Ltd. (T:7752) declined 10.42% or 96.0 points to end at 825.0 and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (T:7003) shed 10.00% or 70.0 points to 630.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 3599 to 151 and 42 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 47.09.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was down 5.03% or 1.66 to $31.32 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 5.39% or 1.93 to hit $33.86 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.35% or 5.80 to trade at $1636.50 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.86% to 103.63, while EUR/JPY fell 0.58% to 117.08.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 96.305.