Tokyo equities markets were up on Wednesday, with the Nikkei 225 gaining 0.4 percent to reach another four-year high of 13,196.57.
The Topix index also closed 0.4 percent higher at 1,357.71. On the down side, shares in department stores fell when Deutsche Bank downgraded several companies from “buy” to “hold”.
Among those seeing losses on the day were Isetan, which fell 0.6 percent to ¥1,753; Marui, which dropped 0.9 percent to ¥1,867; and Takashimaya, which lost 2.3 percent to ¥1,334. Sony was off another 0.5 percent to ¥4,030 ahead of Thursday’s announcement on how it will attempt to turn its fortunes around.
The financial sector, on the other hand, saw gains on the day. Mizuho gained 0.2 percent to ¥673,000, MTFG was up 1.6 percent to ¥1,240,000, and SMFG rose by 2 percent to ¥1,030,000.
The real estate sector was also up, with Mitsui Fudosan gaining 1.5 percent to ¥1,660 and Sumitomo Real Estate Sales rising by 6.7 percent to ¥5,880. Gains in real estate came on an announcement Tuesday by the land ministry that prices on both commercial and residential properties in Tokyo had gone up for the first time in 15 years.