Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.78%

Japan stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Transport and Communication sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.78% to hit a new 1-month low.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Inpex Corp. (TYO:1605), which rose 4.90% or 189.00 points to trade at 4,049.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Trend Micro Inc. (TYO:4704) added 4.20% or 305.00 points to end at 7,565.00 and Mitsubishi Corp. (TYO:8058) was up 4.14% or 195.00 points to 4,910.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mercari Inc (TYO:4385), which fell 6.21% or 230.00 points to trade at 3,474.00 at the close. Screen Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:7735) declined 4.34% or 505.00 points to end at 11,125.00 and Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) was down 3.93% or 1,270.00 points to 31,070.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1928 to 1543 and 262 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 6.34% to 38.25 a new 1-month high.

Crude oil for December delivery was down 1.99% or 2.06 to $101.21 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in January fell 1.57% or 1.75 to hit $109.95 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.27% or 11.00 to trade at $4,018.90 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was up 0.11% to 157.01, while EUR/JPY rose 0.20% to 176.10.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 101.53.