Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.40%

Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Rubber, Transportation Equipment and Manufacturing sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.40%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Z Holdings Corp (T:4689), which rose 3.33% or 21.5 points to trade at 667.4 at the close. Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (T:7735) added 2.15% or 260.0 points to end at 12370.0 and DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (T:5714) was up 1.68% or 80.0 points to 4835.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T:6506), which lost 2.42% or 140.0 points to trade at 5640.0 in late trade. Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (T:9007) declined 2.38% or 52.0 points to end at 2136.0 and Konami Corp. (T:9766) shed 2.13% or 120.0 points to 5520.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1959 to 1601 and 234 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.16% to 19.00.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was down 0.12% or 0.09 to $76.47 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 0.13% or 0.10 to hit $79.11 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.47% or 8.40 to trade at $1797.40 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.20% to 115.17, while EUR/JPY fell 0.07% to 130.35.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.18% at 96.102.