Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.82%

Japan equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Banking, Transportation Equipment and Power sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.82%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (TYO:7012), which rose 4.35% or 146.00 points to trade at 3,500.00 at the close. Tokuyama Corp. (TYO:4043) added 3.78% or 84.50 points to end at 2,321.00 and SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. (TYO:9412) was up 2.20% or 12.00 points to 557.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (TYO:4507), which lost 4.43% or 283.00 points to trade at 6,100.00 in late trade. Daikin Industries, Ltd. (TYO:6367) declined 4.40% or 1,300.00 points to end at 28,240.00 and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) shed 4.18% or 820.00 points to 18,815.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2255 to 1305 and 270 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.03% to 21.15.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for July delivery was down 0.84% or 0.60 to $71.14 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August fell 0.85% or 0.65 to hit $75.64 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 0.42% or 8.25 to trade at $1,973.25 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.19% to 139.37, while EUR/JPY fell 0.33% to 148.83.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 104.17.