Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 1.44% By Investing.com

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

At the close in Tokyo, the lost 1.44%.

The best performers of the session on the were J.Front Retailing Co., Ltd. (TYO:), which rose 3.04% or 34.00 points to trade at 1,153.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Takashimaya Co., Ltd. (TYO:) added 2.47% or 42.00 points to end at 1,744.00 and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Ltd. (TYO:) was up 1.58% or 25.00 points to 1,611.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (TYO:), which fell 5.26% or 26.00 points to trade at 468.00 at the close. Mazda Motor Corp (TYO:) declined 5.10% or 51.00 points to end at 949.00 and Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (TYO:) was down 4.89% or 30.00 points to 583.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2167 to 1313 and 319 ended unchanged.

The , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.14% to 19.15.

Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.95% or 0.76 to $79.04 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 0.72% or 0.61 to hit $84.37 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.19% or 3.55 to trade at $1,910.55 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.60% to 128.10, while EUR/JPY fell 0.50% to 138.39.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 102.05.