Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.02%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.02%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (T:9007), which rose 2.79% or 90.0 points to trade at 3320.0 at the close. Keio Corp. (T:9008) added 2.65% or 210.0 points to end at 8130.0 and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (T:4502) was up 2.53% or 105.0 points to 4255.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (T:9501), which lost 10.15% or 40.0 points to trade at 354.0 in late trade. Rakuten Inc (T:4755) declined 5.90% or 89.0 points to end at 1419.0 and Chiyoda Corp. (T:6366) shed 3.92% or 20.0 points to 490.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2290 to 1223 and 230 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 22.42.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 0.74% or 0.48 to $65.28 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.63% or 0.43 to hit $68.82 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 0.12% or 2.15 to trade at $1733.05 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.15% to 109.14, while EUR/JPY rose 0.13% to 129.87.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 91.912.