Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Banking, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.50% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were SUMCO Corp. (T:3436), which rose 1.78% or 32.0 points to trade at 1834.0 at the close. Advantest Corp. (T:6857) added 1.14% or 23.0 points to end at 2038.0 and Concordia Financial Group Ltd (T:7186) was up 0.61% or 3.0 points to 498.4 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T:6506), which lost 4.99% or 110.0 points to trade at 2093.0 in late trade. Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (T:6976) declined 4.14% or 56.0 points to end at 1296.0 and Furukawa Co., Ltd. (T:5715) shed 3.96% or 8.0 points to 194.0.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 3090 to 165 and 113 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.38% to 18.18.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.10% or 0.05 to $51.10 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $54.35 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.63% or 7.85 to trade at $1256.35 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.02% to 110.68, while EUR/JPY fell 0.14% to 117.89.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 100.58.