Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.80%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the , and sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the fell 0.80% to hit a new 1-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the were Z Holdings Corp (TYO:), which rose 2.93% or 10.50 points to trade at 368.30 at the close. CyberAgent Inc (TYO:) added 2.79% or 30.00 points to end at 1,105.00 and Nichirei Corp. (TYO:) was up 2.43% or 65.00 points to 2,740.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings (TYO:), which lost 6.27% or 306.00 points to trade at 4,572.00 in late trade. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (TYO:) declined 6.20% or 316.00 points to end at 4,782.00 and Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc (TYO:) shed 6.18% or 154.00 points to 2,337.50.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 3041 to 624 and 168 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 9.76% to 19.42.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 0.53% or 0.36 to $67.97 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 0.68% or 0.50 to hit $74.19 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.52% or 10.10 to trade at $1,921.20 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.39% to 132.88, while EUR/JPY fell 0.04% to 141.02.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 104.13.