Japan stocks lower at close of trade

Japan stocks lower at close of trade

Japan stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Gas & Water and Fishery sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.76%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sharp Corp. (T:6753), which rose 5.54% or 8.0 points to trade at 152.5 at the close. Meanwhile, Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T:6506) added 4.83% or 63.0 points to end at 1368.0 and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings (T:8725) was up 4.34% or 135.0 points to 3244.0 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Sony Corp. (T:6758), which fell 6.02% or 181.5 points to trade at 2835.5 at the close. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T:7211) declined 4.97% or 25.0 points to end at 478.5 and Nichirei Corp. (T:2871) was down 4.89% or 48.0 points to 933.0.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1117 to 733 and 150 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T:7211) fell to all time lows; losing 4.97% or 25.0 to 478.5.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.09% to 29.99.

Crude oil for June delivery was down 0.41% or 0.18 to $43.55 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July fell 0.31% or 0.14 to hit $44.93 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 0.48% or 5.95 to trade at $1235.95 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.44% to 111.23, while EUR/JPY fell 0.29% to 125.04.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.18% at 94.94.