Japan stocks lower at close of trade

Japan stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Retail, Food and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors led shares lower.


At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.71%.


The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Toshiba Corp., which rose 5.80% or 12.0 points to trade at 219.0 at the close. Meanwhile, Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. added 4.95% or 42.0 points to end at 890.0 and Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. was up 4.56% or 27.0 points to 619.0 in late trade.


The worst performers of the session were Nippon Express Co., Ltd., which fell 6.23% or 34.0 points to trade at 512.0 at the close. Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd.  declined 5.08% or 28.0 points to end at 523.0 and Sapporo Holdings Ltd.  was down 4.76% or 28.0 points to 560.0.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1425 to 406 and 75 ended unchanged.


The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.28% to 22.71.


Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.89% or 0.34 to $37.98 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 0.52% or 0.21 to hit $39.84 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 0.05% or 0.60 to trade at $1229.20 a troy ounce.


USD/JPY was unchanged 0.00% to 112.43, while EUR/JPY fell 0.10% to 127.34.


The US Dollar Index was up 0.12% at 94.90.