Japanese stocks fell after the close on Wednesday (4/16), as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Transportation and Communications sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.03%.

The best performers on the Nikkei 225 were Toho Co., Ltd. (TYO:9602), which rose 6.04% or 461.00 points to trade at 8,097.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Eisai Co., Ltd. (TYO:4523) gained 3.70% or 138.00 points to close at 3,865.00 and Shimizu Corp. (TYO:1803) gained 2.93% or 39.00 points to 1,372.00 in late trade.

The worst performers on the session were Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857), which fell 6.55% or 380.00 points to close at 5,423.00. SUMCO Corp. (TYO:3436) dropped 5.95% or 54.20 points to close at 856.20 and Toray Industries, Inc. (TYO:3402) dropped 4.39% or 40.50 points to 883.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2,264 to 1,368, with 222 ending unchanged.

Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, fell 1.10% to 27.84.

Crude oil for May delivery fell 0.82% or 0.50 to settle at $60.83 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for June delivery fell 0.71% or 0.46 to settle at $64.21 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 2.21% or 71.69 to trade at $3,312.09 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY fell 0.62% to 142.28, while EUR/JPY rose 0.09% to 161.60.

The U.S. Dollar Index Futures fell 0.63% to 99.33.(Newsmaker23)

Source: Investing.com