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

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.21%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Lasertec Corp (TYO:6920), which rose 4.97% or 780.00 points to trade at 16,470.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Amada Co., Ltd. (TYO:6113) added 4.43% or 67.00 points to end at 1,581.00 and Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) was up 4.24% or 400.00 points to 9,831.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nintendo Co Ltd (TYO:7974), which fell 4.11% or 545.00 points to trade at 12,730.00 at the close. DeNA Co Ltd (TYO:2432) declined 3.62% or 101.00 points to end at 2,690.00 and Japan Steel Works Ltd (TYO:5631) was down 3.32% or 270.00 points to 7,861.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2396 to 1179 and 259 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 1.16% to 25.20.

Crude oil for August delivery was down 0.60% or 0.44 to $73.44 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in August fell 2.83% or 2.23 to hit $76.62 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 1.30% or 44.30 to trade at $3,363.80 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.10% to 145.37, while EUR/JPY rose 0.08% to 167.35.