Japan shares lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 2.79%

Investing.com – Japan equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Transportation Equipment, Rubber and Pharmaceutical Industry sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 2.79%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi Electric Corp (TYO:6503), which rose 14.18% or 338.50 points to trade at 2,726.00 at the close. Panasonic Corp (TYO:6752) added 8.52% or 105.50 points to end at 1,343.50 and Asahi Kasei Corp. (TYO:3407) was up 6.37% or 67.50 points to 1,127.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Lasertec Corp (TYO:6920), which lost 16.44% or 3,860.00 points to trade at 19,615.00 in late trade. Subaru Corp (TYO:7270) declined 11.50% or 320.00 points to end at 2,461.50 and Fujitsu Ltd. (TYO:6702) shed 9.04% or 268.00 points to 2,695.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2814 to 830 and 199 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 11.79% to 25.97.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for December delivery was up 1.93% or 1.34 to $70.60 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in January rose 1.80% or 1.31 to hit $74.12 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.48% or 13.30 to trade at $2,762.60 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.33% to 152.52, while EUR/JPY rose 0.23% to 165.85.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 103.92.