After posting gains early in the session, the Nikkei 225 ended the session in Tokyo at 0.09 percent lower on Tuesday to 16,287.49 and the Topix index fell 0.2 percent to 1,584.6.
The Mothers market, however, managed a gain of 0.04 percent to 731.34.
Shippers were higher after Standard & Poor’s raised the credit rating of several companies to BBB.
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (TYO: 9107) added 1.2 percent to ¥1,485, while Nippon Yusen (TYO: 9101) was up 1.4 percent to ¥1,123 and Mitsui OSK (TYO: 9104) gained 1.5 percent to ¥1,652.
Nippon Sheet Glass (TYO: 5202) was 4.8 percent higher to ¥673 after Daiwa Securities (TYO: 8601) raised its recommendation to “buy”, while robot maker Yaskawa Electric Corp (TYO: 6506) gained 4.1 percent to ¥1,346 as Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER; TYO: 8675) began coverage with a “buy” rating.
Banks were lower on the session, with Mitsubishi UFJ (TYO: 8306; NYSE: MTU) down 1.8 percent to ¥1.11 million and Sumitomo Mitsui (TYO: 8316) was 1.9 percent lower to ¥902,000.
In the electronics sector, Sony (TYO: 6758; NYSE: SNE) dropped 0.6 percent to ¥5,380 and Matsushita Electric Industrial (TYO: 6572; NYSE: MC) fell 1.5 percent to ¥2,000.