Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.15%

Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gas & Water, Paper & Pulp and Marine Transport sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.15%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Eisai Co., Ltd. (TYO:4523), which rose 5.87% or 342.00 points to trade at 6,167.00 at the close. Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (TYO:5232) added 3.17% or 105.00 points to end at 3,420.00 and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (TYO:2802) was up 2.75% or 91.00 points to 3,403.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Inpex Corp. (TYO:1605), which lost 10.05% or 149.00 points to trade at 1,333.00 in late trade. Chiyoda Corp. (TYO:6366) declined 8.62% or 37.00 points to end at 392.00 and Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (TYO:8354) shed 7.87% or 194.00 points to 2,272.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2300 to 1193 and 261 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 2.31% to 22.46.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was up 1.71% or 1.70 to $101.20 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 2.18% or 2.24 to hit $105.01 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.18% or 3.20 to trade at $1,767.10 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.21% to 135.59, while EUR/JPY fell 0.28% to 139.10.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 106.28.