The Tokyo equities markets were lower on Wednesday, with both export-focused and domestic stocks seeing declines. The Nikkei 225 dropped 1 percent to 15,718.67, while the Topix index was 1.4 percent lower to 1,570.28. The Mothers index of small and mid-cap stocks declined even further, by 3.2 percent to 1,178.78.
Internet-related stocks were sent lower by a profit warning issued by Yahoo in the United States. Both Yahoo Japan and Softbank dropped 3 percent, to ¥40,200 and ¥2,075.
Among domestic stocks, real estate, banks, insurance, and consumer finance were all lower. Real estate was 2.1 percent lower as a sector on fears that shares are overvalued. Mitsui Fudosan was 2.3 percent lower to ¥2,610, while Mitsubishi Estate fell 2.9 percent to ¥2,500.
The banking sector was down even more sharply, losing 2.4 percent overall. Mitsubishi UFJ dropped 2 percent to ¥1,450,000. But banks were outdone by the insurance sector, which declined by 2.7 percent as a whole. Life insurer T&D matched the sector with fall of 2.7 percent to ¥8,360, while general insurer Sompo Japan was 4.3 percent lower to ¥1,465.
Consumer finance companies were lower on continuing worries about how the new cap on interest rates they can charge customers will affect business. Takefuji dropped 2.3 percent to ¥5,830, while Aiful declined 4 percent to ¥4,580.