Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.39%

Investing.com – Japan stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Steel, Chemical, Petroleum&Plastic and Insurance sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.39%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (TYO:9502), which rose 8.62% or 111.00 points to trade at 1,398.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO:9531) added 7.30% or 185.00 points to end at 2,719.00 and Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (TYO:9501) was up 3.85% or 18.00 points to 485.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nippon Light Metal Holdings Co. (TYO:5703), which fell 6.31% or 100.00 points to trade at 1,484.00 at the close. Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (TYO:4568) declined 4.91% or 210.00 points to end at 4,064.00 and Resona Holdings, Inc. (TYO:8308) was down 3.23% or 24.00 points to 718.20.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2071 to 1467 and 265 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 0.18% to 16.97 a new 1-month low.

Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.39% or 0.30 to $77.60 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 0.26% or 0.22 to hit $84.28 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.43% or 8.20 to trade at $1,914.70 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.19% to 130.20, while EUR/JPY fell 0.18% to 141.20.

The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 102.09.