Tokyo - As more Japanese companies affiliated with collapsed US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, the Japanese government said the nation's markets would only suffer limited negative effects from the fallout.

Sunrise Finance and Lehman Brothers Commercial Mortgage filed for bankruptcy Wednesday with total liabilities of around 7 billion dollars, news reports said.

Lehman Brothers' main Japanese units filed for protection from creditors on Tuesday, with combined liabilities of about 36.6 billion dollars, making it the second-biggest bankruptcy in Japan since 1945.

The Bank of Japan pumped 5.5 trillion yen (51 billion dollars) into the markets over the last two days, while banks said potential losses from the collapse were relatively small as they had limited their exposure.

Some analysts said losses may be greater than expected by Japan's banks, as the full effects of the bankruptcy on the global market were not yet known, but they added that it would not cause a big shock to Japan's financial industry.

Even so, the Lehman Brothers' collapse could weigh heavily on the Japanese economy overall, which has already marked sluggish growth.

Amid turmoil in the US financial sector, exports to the United States would dwindle as yen gained strength against the US dollar, which dents Japanese firms' earnings.

Although oil prices are falling, rekindled concerns over the financial sector and US dollar's weakness could push oil prices back up again, said Takahide Kiuchi, chief economist of Nomura Securities.

If the "triple evils" of stronger yen, declining stock values and high oil prices come all at the same time, the Japanese economy that has already entered a recession would be pushed even further, Kiuchi said. (dpa)