Hostage stand-off over at Tokyo stock exchange

An armed man who took a hostage at the Tokyo Stock Exchange has released his captive after a stand-off lasting nearly six hours.

Police said they'd detained the gunman.

He'd barricaded himself and his hostage in an office, demanding that the Finance Minister be brought to the Exchange and trading halted.

However, dealers -- unaware of events -- carried on until the close.

Police say the man Tetso Itagaki is an ultra-nationalist, who has been strongly critical of the government's handling of the current economic crisis.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service