Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Banking, Insurance and Finance & Investment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.83%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Unitika, Ltd. (T:3103), which rose 3.85% or 2.0 points to trade at 54.0 at the close. Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (T:6770) added 3.44% or 72.0 points to end at 2163.0 and Sony Corp. (T:6758) was up 3.19% or 89.0 points to 2883.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sharp Corp. (T:6753), which lost 11.84% or 18.0 points to trade at 134.0 in late trade. JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) declined 4.85% or 78.5 points to end at 1539.0 and The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (T:8331) shed 4.43% or 26.0 points to 561.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1306 to 470 and 114 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.81% to 24.47 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 1.38% or 0.50 to $36.84 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.90% or 0.35 to hit $39.09 a barrel, while the April Gold contract rose 0.32% or 3.90 to trade at $1234.90 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was up 0.24% to 113.42, while EUR/JPY rose 0.08% to 125.79.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.19% at 96.84.