In Tokyo on Friday, equities markets were down on profit taking even while they remained close to four-year highs and with no real evidence that they had been affected much by global economic worries. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.1 percent on the day to 12,291.73 and the Topix index was down by 0.2 percent to 1,250.50.

The automobile manufacturing sector fell by 0.3 percent as a whole, with Toyota down 0.7 percent to ¥4,360.

The steel sector, up most of the week on strong worldwide demand, was down by 0.9 percent. Nippon Steel lost 1.3 percent to ¥305.

Retailers were down as well, by 0.6 percent as supermarket chain Ito-Yokado lost 1.3 percent, to ¥3,930.

Machinery sectors were down, as well, with the precision machinery sector down by 1.4 percent and the general machinery sector falling even father, by 0.6 percent.

There were gainers on the day, as two vehicle-related companies anticipated technological advances. Mitsubishi Motors gained 3.5 percent to ¥147 on reports that it will launch its first electric vehicles in 2008 rather than in 2010 even though the company denied those stories.

Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru automobiles, announced that it would debut a vehicle using a lithium battery in the 2007-2008 model year. The announcement sent shares in the company up 3.7 percent to ¥500.