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

Investing.com – Japan stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Communication, Steel and Transportation Equipment sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.80%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201), which rose 6.51% or 27.20 points to trade at 444.80 at the close. Meanwhile, IHI Corp. (TYO:7013) added 4.93% or 404.00 points to end at 8,604.00 and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (TYO:7012) was up 3.24% or 206.00 points to 6,570.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Rakuten Inc (TYO:4755), which fell 7.98% or 79.50 points to trade at 917.30 at the close. Nitori Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:9843) declined 5.40% or 1,065.00 points to end at 18,675.00 and SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) was down 4.34% or 409.00 points to 9,025.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2080 to 1537 and 259 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 1.95% to 19.57.

Crude oil for January delivery was down 1.29% or 0.91 to $69.67 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February fell 0.42% or 0.31 to hit $73.08 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 1.06% or 28.21 to trade at $2,625.09 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.99% to 156.34, while EUR/JPY rose 1.39% to 162.47.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 107.81.