The Tokyo equities markets were a bit higher on Monday as good performance in the real estate sector outweighed fears in the consumer finance sector that new, more stringent rules may be imposed on such lenders. The Nikkei 225 and the Topix index each added 0.2 percent to 15,152.40 and 1,548.97 respectively. The only exception was the Mothers index of small and mid-cap stocks, which dropped 1.7 percent to 1,419.20.

The news that European steel company Arcelor has agreed to a revised bid from Mittal Steel helped the iron and steel sector was up 1.6 as a whole. JFE was up 1.3 percent to ¥4,580, while Nippon Steel gained 1.7 percent to ¥417 and Kobe Steel added 2.7 percent to ¥340.

The real estate sector gained 1.8 percent overall as it continued to benefit from higher commercial property rents in the cities. Mitsui Fudosan was up 1.9 percent to ¥2,400. Mitsubishi Estate and Tokyo Tatemono each added 2.8 percent, to ¥2,365 and ¥1,162, while Sumitomo Realty and Development advanced by 3 percent to ¥2,750 and NTT Urban Development gained 4.3 percent to ¥857,000.

Consumer finance companies saw losses on the day on reports that government regulators are considering strict rules to help borrowers avoid taking on more debt than they can afford. Acom dropped 1.4 percent to ¥6,170, Promise declined by 1.8 percent to ¥6,430, and Aiful was down by 1.8 percent to ¥5,770.

The Tokyo equities markets recovered on Tuesday, as the Nikkei 225 added 0.33 percent on the day to 16,9790.29 and the Topix index was up 0.52 percent to 1,719.73. The Nikkei had lost 500 points on Monday, its largest one-day decline this year, on worries about a strengthening yen.

The banking sector was up on the day, with Mitsubishi UFJ gaining 1.7 percent to ¥1.83 million, while Mizuho added 0.8 percent to ¥984,000. The gains were attributed to investors who felt that domestic stocks were more likely to benefit from the Japanese economy’s recovery.

After earlier declines, the consumer finance sector was also higher on the day as investors wondered it the government will be willing to go through with new, lower limits on how much interest rates these lenders can charge. Aiful was up 6.17 percent on the day to ¥6,710, while Aicom added 5.7 percent and Promise gained 3.2 percent.

Export-oriented companies generally saw declines on the day. Among carmakers, Honda dropped 1 percent to ¥7,740 and Nissan dropped 2.1 percent to ¥1,443. Copier and camera maker Canon lost 2.9 percent to ¥8,400, while chip testing equipment maker Advantest was down almost 2 percent to ¥13,240. Most of these declines had to do with the strengthening of the yen, which hit a three-month high of ¥114 versus the US dollar.