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 fell 0.31%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (TYO:7011), which rose 3.92% or 125.00 points to trade at 3,310.00 at the close. Meanwhile, IHI Corp. (TYO:7013) added 3.62% or 525.00 points to end at 15,035.00 and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201) was up 3.61% or 11.10 points to 318.90 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mercari Inc (TYO:4385), which fell 5.39% or 138.00 points to trade at 2,420.00 at the close. Nexon Co Ltd (TYO:3659) declined 4.17% or 119.50 points to end at 2,743.50 and SUMCO Corp. (TYO:3436) was down 3.82% or 46.50 points to 1,171.50.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2032 to 1556 and 265 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 0.84% to 22.88.

Crude oil for August delivery was up 0.03% or 0.02 to $68.47 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.04% or 0.03 to hit $70.39 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract rose 0.55% or 18.35 to trade at $3,382.35 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.07% to 147.31, while EUR/JPY fell 0.28% to 171.84.