Japan stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Shipbuilding, Manufacturing and Services sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.03%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Japan Steel Works Ltd (TYO:5631), which rose 6.15% or 344.00 points to trade at 5,933.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) added 3.67% or 277.00 points to end at 7,830.00 and Denka Co Ltd (TYO:4061) was up 3.60% or 77.00 points to 2,213.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. (TYO:6976), which fell 5.49% or 141.00 points to trade at 2,428.00 at the close. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201) declined 3.92% or 17.30 points to end at 424.50 and Murata Mfg Co (TYO:6981) was down 3.80% or 99.00 points to 2,504.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1858 to 1678 and 314 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 11.79% to 28.16 a new 3-months high.

Crude oil for April delivery was down 0.13% or 0.09 to $67.59 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 0.07% or 0.05 to hit $70.90 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.03% or 0.81 to trade at $2,945.99 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.30% to 147.80, while EUR/JPY fell 0.37% to 160.81.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 103.61.

Source: Investing.com