Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.36%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.36%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107), which rose 6.68% or 410.0 points to trade at 6550.0 at the close. Denka Co Ltd (T:4061) added 4.45% or 155.0 points to end at 3640.0 and Japan Steel Works Ltd (T:5631) was up 2.59% or 90.0 points to 3570.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Softbank Group Corp. (T:9984), which lost 8.20% or 456.0 points to trade at 5103.0 in late trade. Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (T:4568) declined 6.17% or 175.5 points to end at 2671.0 and SUMCO Corp. (T:3436) shed 5.17% or 129.0 points to 2365.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2136 to 1418 and 222 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 25.00.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was up 2.11% or 1.40 to $67.66 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 1.96% or 1.37 to hit $71.25 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.03% or 0.50 to trade at $1784.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.24% to 113.07, while EUR/JPY rose 0.05% to 127.62.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 96.323.