The Tokyo equities markets joined the rest of Asia, and the rest of the world, in declines on Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 fell 2.9 percent to 16,676.89, while the Topix index also dropped 2.9 percent on the session, to 1,674.94.
Export-focused sectors were lower on earlier strengthening of the yen. The automobile manufacturing sector was down 2.8 percent as a whole. Toyota (TYO: 7203.T; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) performed even worse than the sector, dropping 3.2 percent to ¥7,540.
The sea transport sector lost 2.3 percent overall, with Mitsui OSK (TYO: 9140) falling 3.8 percent to ¥1,307.
Among domestic sectors, real estate was 5.6 percent lower, with both Mitsui Fudosan (TYO: 8801; NAS: MDSFF) and Sumitomo Realty & Development (TYO: 8830) doing worse than the sector as a whole. Mitsui Fudosan was 6.4 percent lower to ¥3,220, while Sumitomo Realty & Development (TYO: 8830) dropped 6.8 percent to ¥4,540.
The iron and steel sector was also lower, by 4.1 percent, with Nippon Steel (TYO: 5401) down 3.8 percent to ¥835.
Nikko Cordial (TYO: 8603; SGX: N06) was not traded after buy orders flooded in after Citigroup (NYSE: C) was said to have raised its bid for the broker. The buy orders, at ¥1,690, were 13.4 percent higher than Tuesday’s closing price.