Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.14%

Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Mining and Fishery sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.14%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (TYO:8233), which rose 7.70% or 144.00 points to trade at 2,013.00 at the close. Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (TYO:5232) added 3.17% or 117.00 points to end at 3,803.00 and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (TYO:3099) was up 2.27% or 32.50 points to 1,462.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (TYO:4568), which lost 2.49% or 116.00 points to trade at 4,550.00 in late trade. Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (TYO:5202) declined 2.33% or 16.00 points to end at 672.00 and Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. (TYO:3382) shed 1.99% or 126.00 points to 6,205.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1851 to 1738 and 252 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.95% to 20.19.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.37% or 0.26 to $70.12 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.47% or 0.35 to hit $74.86 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 0.20% or 3.85 to trade at $1,914.05 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.03% to 144.81, while EUR/JPY rose 0.02% to 157.33.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 103.00.