In Tokyo on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.20 percent to 11,858.31, while the Topix index gained 0.23 percent to 1,201.72.

The steel and metals sectors were up for the second day in a row on the expectation of rising exports to China after the termini’s revaluation. Aichi Steel gained 3.4 percent to ¥640, Nakayama Steel Works was up 3.4 percent as well, to ¥515, and Kobe Steel advanced by 0.9 percent to ¥225, as the sector sub index gained 0.3 percent.

The nonferrous metals sub index was up even more, by 0.4 percent, helped by Sumitomo Electric’s gain of 4.6 percent to ¥1,241 after it reported an 81.5 percent jump in quarterly profits, to ¥13.5 billion.

The banking sector was helped by a comment from the governor of the Bank of Japan, who said on Wednesday that Japan’s economy could rise out of deflation within the next six months.

Also helping the sector was data showing an 0.1 percent month-on-month rise in retails sales in June. Mizuho Financial Group gained 2.4 percent to ¥505,000, MTFG was up 1.2 percent to ¥936,000, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advanced by 1.9 percent to ¥734,000.

Canon and Seiko both reported quarterly earnings that did not rise to expectations, sending their shares down on the day. Canon lost 4.7 percent to ¥5,660, while Seiko was down 5.3 percent to ¥3,320. Sony and Hitachi also reported quarterly losses.