Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.57%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.57%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were ANA Holdings Inc (T:9202), which rose 3.38% or 77.5 points to trade at 2369.5 at the close. Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (T:9007) added 2.66% or 76.0 points to end at 2932.0 and Central Japan Railway Co. (T:9022) was up 2.53% or 385.0 points to 15630.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Z Holdings Corp (T:4689), which lost 3.87% or 21.0 points to trade at 521.0 in late trade. Panasonic Corp (T:6752) declined 3.47% or 47.0 points to end at 1309.0 and Komatsu Ltd. (T:6301) shed 3.17% or 103.0 points to 3148.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2218 to 1278 and 249 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 22.56.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for June delivery was up 0.91% or 0.56 to $61.99 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.66% or 0.43 to hit $65.83 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.00% or 0.05 to trade at $1782.05 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.03% to 107.93, while EUR/JPY rose 0.24% to 130.01.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.27% at 91.070.