The Tokyo equities markets were down on Tuesday as domestically-oriented stocks could not sustain the gains they achieved on Monday. The Nikkei 225 ended the day down by 0.8 percent to 16,238.36, while the Topix index dropped 0.5 percent to 1,665.79.
Retail was down 0.6 percent in the sector with Seven & I down 1.3 percent to ¥4,460. In transport, East Japan Railway also lost 1.3 percent on the day to ¥861,000. The securities sector also dropped, by 0.7 percent, with Nomura down to ¥2,350.
Real estate managed slight gains, with Tokyu Land gaining 1.2 percent to ¥1,081.
Export-reliant sectors were damaged by the yen’s climb in relation to the US dollar. Electrical machinery was down 0.8 as a sector, with Elpida Memory falling 3.1 percent to ¥4,100 and Hitachi declining 0.9 percent to ¥805. Elsewhere, Toyota was down 0.3 percent to ¥6,320.
Chugai Pharmaceutical dropped 3.5 percent to ¥2,195 on a downgrade from “neutral” to “sell” from Merrill Lynch, which cited a probable drop in sales of, Epogin, an anti-anemia drug.
Rising crude oil prices helped upstream oil companies, with Japan Petroleum up 1.6 percent to ¥6,830 and Inpex up to ¥1,050,000.