Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.61%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.61%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Canon Inc (T:7751), which rose 1.95% or 46.5 points to trade at 2431.0 at the close. Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (T:4507) added 1.76% or 104.0 points to end at 6004.0 and Suzuki Motor Corp. (T:7269) was up 1.50% or 70.0 points to 4750.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107), which lost 7.21% or 198.0 points to trade at 2548.0 in late trade. Rakuten Inc (T:4755) declined 6.69% or 99.0 points to end at 1381.0 and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (T:9104) shed 5.82% or 250.0 points to 4045.0.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2715 to 885 and 160 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 24.39.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 1.20% or 0.74 to $60.82 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 1.22% or 0.79 to hit $63.83 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.01% or 0.25 to trade at $1737.85 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.09% to 108.73, while EUR/JPY fell 0.14% to 129.69.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 91.852.