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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 2.73%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nitori Holdings Co Ltd (TYO: 9843 ), which rose 3.48% or 495.00 points to trade at 14,730.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd. (TYO: 2269 ) added 2.65% or 85.00 points to end at 3,287.00 and Central Japan Railway Co. (TYO: 9022 ) was up 2.35% or 67.00 points to 2,921.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd (TYO: 4506 ), which fell 10.15% or 69.00 points to trade at 611.00 at the close. Konica Minolta, Inc. (TYO: 4902 ) declined 8.91% or 44.10 points to end at 451.00 and Resona Holdings, Inc. (TYO: 8308 ) was down 8.72% or 109.00 points to 1,141.50.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 3412 to 383 and 79 ended unchanged.

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

Crude oil for May delivery was down 3.07% or 2.20 to $69.51 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in June fell 2.88% or 2.16 to hit $72.79 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract fell 0.50% or 15.89 to trade at $3,150.31 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 1.61% to 146.86, while EUR/JPY fell 0.39% to 161.39.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.34% at 102.11.