Investing.com – Japan stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gas & Water, Precision Instruments and Retail sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.52%.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Familymart Ltd (T:8028), which rose 2.35% or 180.0 points to trade at 7850.0 at the close. Meanwhile, The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. (T:8355) added 2.35% or 27.0 points to end at 1174.0 and Konami Corp. (T:9766) was up 2.27% or 140.0 points to 6310.0 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were SUMCO Corp. (T:3436), which fell 5.22% or 150.0 points to trade at 2726.0 at the close. DeNA Co Ltd (T:2432) declined 3.98% or 96.0 points to end at 2319.0 and Showa Denko K.K. (T:4004) was down 3.79% or 155.0 points to 3935.0.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1889 to 1447 and 207 ended unchanged.
Shares in The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. (T:8355) rose to 52-week highs; up 2.35% or 27.0 to 1174.0.
The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.53% to 14.75 a new 1-month low.
Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.79% or 0.45 to $57.59 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 1.09% or 0.69 to hit $64.03 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.22% or 2.70 to trade at $1244.40 a troy ounce.
USD/JPY was down 0.12% to 113.41, while EUR/JPY fell 0.09% to 133.21.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 94.01.