In Tokyo on Wednesday the equities markets were up for the first time in over a week, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.9 percent to 16,307.67 and the Topix index gaining 0.7 percent to 1,657.07. Commodities stocks that were higher after recent declines were key to the day’s gains, even as sectors focused on domestic demand were generally down on the day.

The securities sector was down by 0.4 percent as a whole. Daiwa Securities, for example, was 2 percent lower to ¥1,463.

Retailers as a sector were also 0.4 percent lower, although stocks within the sector were mixed. Department store chain Matsuzakaya dropped by 1.5 percent to ¥933. On the other hand, convenience store chain Circle K Sunkus added 3.3 percent on the day to ¥2,690.

Steel and non-ferrous metals sectors were each 3 percent higher on the day, helped out by higher commodities prices. Mitsui Mining & Smelting and Sumitomo Metal Mining each added 4.7 percent, to ¥817 and ¥1,602 respectively. Nippon Steel, meanwhile, gained 4.4 percent to ¥428.

In the consumer finance sector, Aiful dropped 10.4 percent to ¥6,110 after it said that its annual profits were down last year and that they would probably fall further this year after it was forced by government regulators to shut down for a period earlier in the month.

The Tokyo equities markets were down again on Wednesday on lower share prices in the US and concerns that recent gains in domestic stocks cannot persist. The Nikkei 225 and Topix index each lost 1.5 percent on the day to 17,162.55 and 1,742.89 respectively.

The electronics sector was down as Toshiba fell victim to two bits of negative news. First of all, US memory card manufacturer Lexar Media filed an infringement of intellectual property charge against Toshiba with the International Trade Commission. Also, Toshiba said on Tuesday that engineers employed by the company had changed test statistics for equipment for Japanese nuclear reactors. Toshiba’s shares dropped 2.6 percent on the day to ¥708.

High-tech manufacturer Kyocera dropped 4.1 percent to ¥10,480 and the electrical machinery sector as a whole dropped 2 percent on concerns about the strength of the US economy.

In domestic sectors, securities dropped 1.4 percent, with Nomura losing 1.3 percent to ¥2,685. Bankers dropped 2.1 percent, with Mitsubishi UFJ falling a larger 3.1 percent to ¥1,850,000.

In the retail sector, convenience stores had a rough day after Familymart issued a less-than-promising profits forecast for the 2006/2007 fiscal year. Familymart lost 7 percent to ¥2,580, while Lawson dropped 4.2 percent to ¥4,380, Circle K Sunkus declined by 2.4 percent to ¥2,815, and Seven & I was down 1.7 percent to ¥4,760.