Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.88% By Investing.com

Investing.com – Japan stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the , and sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the declined 0.88%.

The best performers of the session on the were Kobe Steel, Ltd. (TYO:), which rose 6.38% or 49.00 points to trade at 817.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Inpex Corp. (TYO:) added 5.60% or 78.00 points to end at 1,472.00 and Honda Motor Co Ltd (TYO:) was up 4.54% or 144.00 points to 3,318.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:), which fell 4.39% or 2,120.00 points to trade at 46,150.00 at the close. Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (TYO:) declined 4.20% or 91.00 points to end at 2,076.00 and Shiseido Co., Ltd. (TYO:) was down 3.97% or 261.00 points to 6,320.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2293 to 1295 and 241 ended unchanged.

Shares in Kobe Steel, Ltd. (TYO:) rose to 52-week highs; up 6.38% or 49.00 to 817.00.

The , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.12% to 16.22.

Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.99% or 0.79 to $78.93 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 0.87% or 0.75 to hit $85.64 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.02% or 0.30 to trade at $1,874.20 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.62% to 132.23, while EUR/JPY rose 0.67% to 141.21.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 103.57.