The Tokyo equities markets were down again on Friday as investors worried about the consequences of a defeat for the prime minister’s plan to privatize the post office.

If the upper house of parliament does not approve the legislation, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has promised to dissolve parliament and call elections.

The Nikkei 225 was down 0.98 percent to 11,766.48, while the Topix index lost 1.24 percent to 1,189.19. All 33 sectors of the Tokyo Stock Exchange were down on the day.

Banks were lower, with Mizuho Financial Group down 1.2 percent to ¥502,000, MTFG lost 1.2 percent to ¥943,000, and UFJ dropped 0.9 percent to ¥580,000.

Besides the uncertainty over the privatization vote, MTFG and UFJ were also affected by a report that that the two banks are delaying plans for a merger, a rumor that both banks denied.

Automobile manufacturers also saw major losses as Honda, Nissan, and Toyota each lost 1.9 percent of the value of their shares. Honda stood at ¥5,700, Nissan declined to ¥1,145, and Toyota fell to ¥4,170.

Not all individual shares were down, however. Condominium developer Haseko gained 9.3 percent to ¥258 on the announcement that it will buy back ¥142.8 billion in preferred shares from three banks.

Fuji Television gained 1.4 percent to ¥221,000 when it upped its profit estimate for the full year by 7 percent due to TV shopping and advertising revenues that are higher than expected. Fuji is Japan’s biggest private broadcaster.