Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.45%

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

At the close in Tokyo, the lost 0.45%.

The best performers of the session on the were Rakuten Inc (TYO:), which rose 7.53% or 44.00 points to trade at 628.00 at the close. Meanwhile, CyberAgent Inc (TYO:) added 3.33% or 28.50 points to end at 885.10 and DIC Corp (TYO:) was up 2.88% or 77.50 points to 2,771.50 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd (TYO:), which fell 2.33% or 18.30 points to trade at 767.50 at the close. Pacific Metals Co., Ltd. (TYO:) declined 2.02% or 25.00 points to end at 1,214.00 and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (TYO:) was down 1.81% or 13.00 points to 706.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2364 to 1293 and 226 ended unchanged.

The , which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.18% to 17.10.

Crude oil for February delivery was up 0.35% or 0.25 to $72.02 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in March rose 0.49% or 0.38 to hit $77.53 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.09% or 1.85 to trade at $2,081.65 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.11% to 141.24, while EUR/JPY fell 0.05% to 156.36.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 100.83.