A gunman who had held a Tokyo Stock Exchange official hostage for nearly six hours has been captured and his hostage released.

Police said the man was an ultra-nationalist, who has been strongly critical of the government's handling of the current economic crisis.

BBC Toyko Correspondent Juliet Hindell reports on the seige and the financial pressures facing Japan (2'00")

He walked into the building in central Tokyo around 1pm local time and took the lift to the 14th floor, where the executive offices are located.

He presented his business card and was served tea in the normal way as he waited for a Finance Ministry official, Masahiro Abe.

When Mr Abe, who was on secondment to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, came out of his office to meet him he pulled out a gun.

It is reported that he fired a shot in the air and took Mr Abe hostage, barricading them inside a room.

Stock exchange staff negotiated with the man, who demanded that the afternoon session of trading be stopped.

Officials from the stock exchange refused his request and trading in shares worth billions of yen continued until the close.

Japanese government officials said the stock market was too volatile for them to accede to the gunman's demands.

Two Japanese news agencies said the bearded gunman had identified himself as Tetsuo Itagaki, a member of the Grand Sorrow Group (Daihikai), one of dozens of small rightist groups.

It is thought he may be a disciple of Shusuke Nomura, a right-wing activist who committed suicide in a Japanese newspaper office in October 1993.

Nomura, head of the Kaze no Kai (Wind Party), took his life because of a cartoon in a magazine which ridiculed his Japanese nationalist views.

Security in many Japanese buildings, including banks and government offices, is notoriously lax, and the gunman seems to have taken advantage of this.

He asked for the Japanese Finance Minister, Hiroshi Mitsuzuka, to come to the building but this request was not granted.

The gunman's demand for business to be halted was ignored

Armed police in bullet-proof vests and helmets surrounded the stock exchange and a crowd of 100 or so people gathered outside.

Several police helicopters were also in the area.

Eiji Moriyama, who works nearby, said the hostage crisis was an inevitable symptom of Japan's financial crisis: "These are the times we live in.

"These are hard times and something like this was bound to happen."

The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed with the Nikkei stock average of the top 225 issues up 91.5 at 14,755.94 points.
 

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