Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.44% By Investing.com

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.44%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T:9501), which rose 6.23% or 24.0 points to trade at 409.0 at the close. Fujitsu Ltd. (T:6702) added 4.73% or 765.0 points to end at 16950.0 and Shiseido Co., Ltd. (T:4911) was up 4.43% or 300.0 points to 7075.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T:7735), which lost 3.66% or 320.0 points to trade at 8420.0 in late trade. JFE Holdings, Inc. (T:5411) declined 3.40% or 35.0 points to end at 995.0 and Tokyu Fudosan (T:3289) shed 2.92% or 17.0 points to 565.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2070 to 1460 and 215 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 23.71.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 1.20% or 0.64 to $52.49 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 1.03% or 0.58 to hit $55.52 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.35% or 6.50 to trade at $1859.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.19% to 103.67, while EUR/JPY rose 0.13% to 126.02.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 90.237.