Nippon Paper Group led declining Nikkei 225 index shares with a drop of 10.40% followed by losses in Sumitomo Electric Industries of 5.47%, in OJI Paper Co Limited of 4.69%, in Kikkoman Corporation of 4.64%, and in Millea Holdings of 4.34%.

Paper and pulp makers declined after OJI Paper Company Limited became latest company to announce today it had falsified the amount of recycled materials used to produce printer and photocopier paper.

However President of OJI Paper Company Kazuhisa Shinoda said that the prior use of less recycled materials will not affect earnings.

This week Nippon Paper Group said it had falsified data on paper products since 1996 to make it look as if it was complying with the mandatory recycled volume requirements.

Nippon Paper President Masatomo Nakamura also added that he will step down as a result.

Nissin Seifun Group, the parent company of Nisshin Foods, said today it will increase wholesale prices by 40%.

Bloomberg news reported today that Morgan Stanley has raised 50.2 billion yen from the sale of yen denominated bond sale to strengthen its balance sheet.