Bloomberg: Abenomics has chance to reshape Japan

[greengiraffe]

All these copycat acts from supposed smart and prudent top people is simply driving the value of $ to the grave and inflating the bubbles in hard assets that will eventually feed through to daily cost living pressures - long hard assets to hedge against the WALL of Money

`Abenomics' puts heat on region
RICK WALLACE, TOKYO CORRESPONDENT
781 words
9 May 2013
The Australian
AUSTLN
English
© 2013 News Limited. All rights reserved.
Japan's policy is disrupting markets and currency flows
THE ripples of Japan embarking on what one pundit has described as ``one of the biggest economics experiments the world has ever seen'' have finally arrived on Australia's shores.
The Reserve Bank this week cited Japan's aggressive new policy of almost unlimited quantitative easing in the statement accompanying its decision to cut the headline cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent.
Japan's decision to overturn decades of conservatism from the central bank and pull out a monetary bazooka that is bigger than that of the US has already disrupted markets and currency flows across the world.
In fact, ``Abenomics'' has been so potent a policy that its impact was felt months before Shinzo Abe stormed to power in a crushing election win in December.
Since October, the value of the Australian dollar against the yen has shot up from Y=80 to Y=100 and the yen has logged a similar depreciation against the US dollar in this period.
Japan's exporters are cheering, and its stockmarket, near comatose for decades, has soared by almost 40 per cent since the start of the calendar year while posting frequent daily gains of more than 3 per cent.
The main impact for Australia has been to prolong the strength of the local currency, providing another body blow to the export manufacturing industry, particularly the automotive sector.
The Gillard government, even as it blames the strong dollar for falling tax receipts, has cautiously welcomed Japan's radical economic overhaul, as have most other governments in the region.
The central banks seem less sanguine.
The Korean Central Bank says Japan's policy is a risk to its economy, and the Bank of New Zealand yesterday said it had recently intervened to bring down the strength of the local currency, whose rise has mirrored that of the Australian dollar. But in general the subdued level of dissent or, to put it another way, the level of acceptance of Abenomics has been almost as remarkable as the impact of the policy itself.
By shrewdly tying the easing policy to an inflation target, standard practice for Australia's central bank and others, Japan has emerged from the G20 and numerous bilateral meetings with nothing really resembling a rebuke.
This is despite the fact that Abe has eroded the independence of the central bank by pushing out the previous governor and installing his pro-easing ally Haruhiko Kuroda.
Of course, China, with a history of state control of its own currency, can hardly complain. As for the US, it started the whole monetary easing ball rolling.
Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch Australia economist Saul Eslake says Australia and Southeast Asian countries seem to have concluded they have more to gain from an economically revived Japan than they have to lose from Abenomics pushing their currencies higher against the yen.
Continued on Page 23
Continued from Page 17
In relative terms, the Bank of Japan's $US65 billion ($63.8bn) a month of securities buying is more radical than the US Federal Reserve's $US85bn-a-month bond buying, given the US economy is three times the size, according to Eslake.
Abenomics is, of course, more than just easing. The Prime Minister has embarked on a Y=10 trillion fiscal stimulus to match, flagged structural reforms such as joining the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade bloc, and promised increasing female participation in the workplace.
But it is the rapid devaluation of the yen that has attracted most of the headlines around the world.
Eslake notes the damage this is contributing to Australia's manufacturing sector, but agrees the broad impact on Australia of a strong Japan -- our second-largest trading partner -- is positive. ``We sell to Japan, we don't really compete with Japan. Japan is still our second-biggest export market. We should gain more from the reflation of the Japanese economy than we have to lose from the Australian dollar going up against the yen,'' he told The Australian.
Putting aside domestic doubts over whether the policy will actually slay Japan's deflation demons, it has also attracted criticism from international observers.
HSBC's London-based chief economist, Stephen King, has warned of a cocktail of negative economic consequences flowing from Japan's monetary policies.
``Mr Abe's policies may ultimately deliver the goods, but there is a very good chance that, instead, his measures will only lead to further global financial instability, in turn triggering an increase in economic nationalism,'' King wrote in a research note published this year.

News Ltd.

Document AUSTLN0020130508e9590002d

[greengiraffe]

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?play=1&video=3000171389

[greengiraffe]

Abenomics and the return of Japan

Leng Yeow
1758 words
12 Jun 2013
The Australian Financial Review
AFNR
English
Copyright 2013. Fairfax Media Management Pty Limited.
Equities After years in the cold, change has come to the land of the rising sun and Japan is back in investors' sights.
The world's gaze has been fixed on China and the emerging markets since chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke said in 2008 that China would lead the world out of the global financial crisis.
The world forgot about former superpower Japan.
For the past 22 years – minus the last six months – investors were better off avoiding Japan. But since the December election of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has come with his own brand of mega-economic policy reform, Abenomics, Japan has began a transformation.
The Nikkei Index, which tracks the top 225 companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, jumped around 75 per cent from November to its peak of 15627.26 points on May 22, its highest closing level since December 2007. It has since fallen back around 18 per cent.
A strong Nikkei and a weaker yen are key planks in Abenomics, along with significant quantitative easing.
Since the Bank of Japan announced on April 4 that it is targeting inflation of 2 per cent within two years by doubling the monetary base, the yen has dropped 2.1 per cent to buy US96.9¢ ($1.03).
The aim of Abenomics is to fix Japan's macro-economic problems through the three prongs of monetary easing, fiscal reform and structural reform.
The principle behind Abenomics is based on the parable of Mori Motonari, which is taught in Japanese schools.
Mori Motonari was a powerful ¬Japanese lord in the 16th century who gave each of his three sons an arrow and told them to snap it, which they easily did. He then handed them each two arrows, which they easily snapped too, but when he handed them three arrows each, they could not snap them.
Mori Motonari explained that one arrow could be easily broken but three arrows held together could not.Risk and reward
Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG, says there's still further upside from Japanese equities, but there's also significant risk.
"The boat has sailed in a big way so if you haven't participated in the rise in the Nikkei, then you've missed the easy money," he says.
"The market started rising even before Abe was elected because everyone knew his policies."
The further depreciation of the yen will be a boon for the Japanese economy, especially exporters.
Japanese business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the country's 30 largest export businesses stand to reap an additional $US2.7 billion for every one yen the currency drops against the US dollar.
Car manufacturer Toyota estimates its profits will increase by $US340 million a year per one yen drop. Last financial year, Toyota reported a $US3.33 billion profit.
There are several ways investors can get exposure to the Japanese story.
They can buy an index or exchange traded fund which tracks the Nikkei or invest in a managed fund with exposure to Japanese equities.
Traders with a short-term time horizon can trade ETFs, contracts for difference and the futures market.Deflationary forces
Weston says it's important for investors to understand that the Nikkei is a price-weighted index, which ranks stocks in proportion to their quoted price. For example, Japanese clothing chain Fast Retailing, one of the most expensive stocks, represents 9.4 per cent of the index.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index, on the other hand, is a market capitalisation-weighted index.
"Investors can buy the Nikkei but that will give them a lot of exposure to companies such as Fast Retailing, which we believe will underperform the exporters," Weston says.
He describes Japan as "massively risky".
"There are still deflationary forces in Japan. The goal is to get to 2 per cent inflation, and it will get there, but Japan has a debt problem. It needs to boost productivity and get a surplus to create nominal GDP growth," he says.
"That will require the Japanese to change their spending habits, because Japanese consumers have historically been savers. However, Japan has an ageing population, so there are big structural issues."
The Japanese bond market will also play a critical role.
According to Charles Beazley, chief executive of Nikko Asset Management, the success of Abe's monetary easing policy will depend on getting Japanese households to spend and invest.
There's currently an estimated ¥850 trillion ($9.14 billion) in household savings. Less than 3.6 per cent of household assets are invested in mutual funds and less than 3.8 per cent are invested in stocks.
"The capital in Japan dwarfs the rest of the world," Beazley says.Productivity boost
In a bid to boost productivity, Abe has been promoting the role of women in the workforce. He is pushing for better maternity and paternity leave entitlements, and better childcare facilities.
Beazley says the weaker yen has also seen a revival in Japan's tourism industry. "Nine months ago, you'd hardly see any foreigners and now they're everywhere, which is good for tourism and retail spending," he says.
The next immediate challenge for Japan and Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party will be winning the election on July 21, which will determine who will gain power of the upper house. The LDP must win the election in order to put its policies and reforms in place and make changes to the Bank of Japan.
Nikko Asset Management was an earlier predictor of the importance of China and Asia in resurrecting the global economy, and has been operating under the slogan "Japan is back" since December last year. It also believes the United States is going to surprise investors.
The global funds management giant, which owns Australian funds manager Tyndall, manages $US162.3 billion and specialises in Asian equities. Around 50 per cent of its assets are invested in non-yen denominated products.
Beazley says the market is struggling to understand what's happening in Japan because most financial analysts and strategists are not trained political economists or political scientists.
There's a lot of macro analysis but the political analysis is weak, which is a concern given politics will dominate economics for the next 25 years, he says.Change can happen
Beazley believes Abe's decision to appoint former senior finance ministry official Haruhiko Kuroda as BoJ governor has contributed significantly to the turnaround in the Japanese economy.
For the last 15 years, the BoJ has been driving monetary policy, whereas previously power would rotate between the BoJ and the Ministry of Finance.
"You could almost time the bull market in line with when the Ministry of Finance got involved, and then the BoJ would come in and get harsher and burst the bubble," Beazley says.
"The last 15 years have been harsh and people didn't believe in reflation, but now they believe that change can happen. Abe wants a more confident Japan, not a more authoritative Japan."
"Japan is an export country and the Japanese believe they will do better if the yen is weaker, and that is the most significant thing."
In Japan, people tend to agree with each other.
Recent research shows seven out of 10 Japanese people agree that what is happening in their country is important and confidence is climbing.
"You can see it, you can feel it and you can taste it," Beazley says.
However, many offshore investors still don't believe the Japanese recovery is real and therefore remain underweight Japan in their global equities portfolios.
"There are people hoping like hell that Japan doesn't come back because they're under-invested and they don't want to explain that to their investors," Beazley says.The second stage
Charles Stodart, investment analyst at Five Oceans Asset Management, believes Japan is entering the "second stage" of Abenomics, which is focused on structural reform and growth.
He says the key drivers of the Nikkei will be whether the government can introduce more competition, remove barriers to private enterprise and ¬promote private sector investment.
"The market got a bit ahead of itself in terms of their expectations of what Abe could do and the speed in which he would be able to do it.
"It's still very early days in terms of implementation, and the market now seems to be ¬moving into a more realistic phase," Stodart says.
Abe's plans to boost productivity should be finalised on June 12 but the actual details around implementation won't be apparent until the July ¬election, he says.
"If Abe is able to secure a majority that will give him a far stronger mandate to implement change and articulate what his plans are, and a lot of people and long money want to see ¬evidence that Abe can deliver," Stodart says.
"Abe will need to get buy in from a lot of vested interests and corporates to implement his plan in a timely fashion and the (equity) market got ahead of itself around Abe's ability to do all that."Still value
Five Oceans has exposure to Japan through a number of Japanese companies, such as Fanuc Corporation, which manufactures robots and automated equipment.
It recently realised profits in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, after an "extraordinary run".
The funds manager has a fundamental bottom-up investment style. It does not take macro -economic bets.
"We actively monitor developments in Japan and around the world, and we like the Abe story and believe a weaker yen will be very positive for exporters, but we don't speculate on currency," Stodart says.
"We buy quality businesses that are well-positioned for growth and ¬mis-priced by the market.
"If a Japanese exporter falls into that category then they are very interesting to us."
Beazley says there's still value in Japan, despite its strong rally.
"We don't believe Japanese equities are expensive, that's just what the fund managers tell their clients to explain why they missed out on a 60 per cent rally in the world's second largest equity market," he says.
"There are hidden strengths in some Japanese companies and valuations are still reasonable.
"A few things still need to happen to confirm the trends in Japan, but if personal consumption increases and Abe's third arrow is ¬successful it'll be even keel again, whereas for many years Japan has been materially disadvantaged by the strength of the yen."

Fairfax Media Management Pty Limited

Document AFNR000020130611e96c0000h

[greengiraffe]

Abenomics has chance to reshape Japan
Date
July 22, 2013 - 10:19AM
Pin Itsubmit to redditEmail articlePrintReprints & permissions


Victory in Japan for Abe's LDP party
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc wins a decisive victory in upper house elections.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s victory in elections to the upper house of parliament yesterday opened a window for him to deliver on promises for structural reforms he says will revive the world’s third-largest economy.

Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its New Komeito ally will have at least a 133 majority in the 242-seat upper house, according to estimates by state broadcaster NHK. The former ruling Democratic Party of Japan slid further into the margins of politics after its collapse in lower house elections in December, leaving the LDP in its strongest position since 2007.

With the Diet avenues now cleared for the government’s bills, the fight for Abe, 58, turns inward -- to convince his enlarged party, and a public that turned out in fewer numbers yesterday, that his program of change is worth enacting. Vested interests are lined up against him on everything from making it easier to fire workers to entering a US-led free-trade zone.

Mandate ... Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Mandate ... Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Photo: AFP
‘‘The important thing for Abe is to quell opposition in his own party -- the opposition are no fear for him,’’ said Shuichi Obata, a senior economist in Tokyo at Nomura Securities, a unit of the nation’s largest brokerage. ‘‘Speed is extremely important for Abe, so that markets don’t feel he has let them down with the growth strategy. He has to satisfy them within a month,’’ using time before parliament resumes session to prepare his legislation, Obata said.

Advertisement
The yen was trading at 100.46 per dollar, up 0.2 per cent from before the election.

Stock market

The Topix Index of stocks has climbed 59 per cent in the past eight months on optimism that Abe’s three-pronged economic strategy of monetary stimulus, a flexible fiscal stance and business deregulation will end two decades of malaise. The yen has tumbled about 19 per cent against the dollar in that time, offering exporters a more competitive exchange rate.

Abe has already seen how quickly investor sentiment can turn. When he delivered a speech previewing his structural reform agenda that omitted details and showed no legislation would be planned for months, the Topix tumbled 3.2 per cent.

Decisions loom on whether to cut the corporate tax burden; reduce labour regulations dating from the 1960s that offered lifetime employment at larger enterprises; make it easier to consolidate agricultural land; allow greater access to foreign goods and services through the Trans Pacific Partnership trade talks; streamline the approval of medical-industry products; restart nuclear reactors to cut energy costs; and address funding shortfalls in the social-security system.

Sales tax

Abe must also decide whether to proceed with a scheduled increase in sales taxes designed to pare the fiscal deficit in a nation with the world’s largest public debt burden. The prime minister yesterday said that question will be answered around the autumn, with economic data helping determine the call.

Turnout tumbled in the election, which coincided with the first weekend of school holidays. Kyodo News estimated the share of voters casting ballots at 52.26 per cent, down from 57.92 per cent in 2010, and reported that the final figure could be the lowest since 1998.

‘‘It’s not like there’s a groundswell of enthusiasm for him,’’ said Koichi Nakano, professor of politics at Sophia University in Tokyo, in reference to Abe. ‘‘If he misreads that and gets complacent, he could be punished very quickly in cabinet support levels.’’

Half of the upper house seats were up for election yesterday. The LDP is set to win at least 64 seats which, added to its existing 50, will make 114, according to NHK. New Komeito is projected to win at least 10 seats, making a total of a minimum 19, the broadcaster estimated late last night.

Limited opposition

The DPJ will win at least 15 seats, for a total of about 57, NHK calculated. The Japan Restoration Party, once seen as an up-and-coming force, was limited to seven seats, adding to its single existing upper house seat, NHK said.

‘‘This is a powerful message telling me to proceed with my economic policies,’’ Abe said on NHK after polls closed. ‘‘I want to make sure people feel the effects of the economic recovery as soon as possible.’’

Another choice for Abe is how great a focus to place on strengthening defence and revamping the US-occupation era constitution. With China increasingly challenging Japan’s administration of the Senkaku Islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese, the LDP has proposed buying first-strike weapons such as cruise missiles. The party also has proposed amending the constitution to open the way to restoring the right to wage war.

National security

Abe said yesterday on NHK that he wanted to deepen the debate on constitutional change in a calm and stable atmosphere. He said Japan’s door was open to talks with China and declined to say whether he would visit Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan’s war dead including leaders convicted as Class A war criminals by an Allied tribunal after World War II.

In Fukushima City, capital of the prefecture devastated by the March 2011 tsunami and ensuing nuclear reactor meltdowns, voters showed interest in both economics and national security.

‘‘My expectations are for foreign policy,’’ said Masahiko Kanno, 67, who said yesterday he voted for the LDP. ‘‘We should take a firm stance toward China and South Korea on territorial problems, history and so on,’’ he said. Japan is also enmeshed in a dispute with South Korea over the administration of the Dokdo Islands, known as Takeshima in Japan.

Tomoko Kida, a 27-year-old company employee on maternity leave, said her focus in voting for the LDP was on the economy. ‘‘Share prices are rising, but no one around me is feeling the benefit. I want him to introduce some policies that raise wages.’’

Wage malaise

Wages haven’t risen in Japan on a sustained basis since the bursting of the asset bubble in the early 1990s, as companies focused on fixing balance sheets and consumers reined in their spending. Labor cash earnings fell 0.1 per cent in May from a year before.

Angst over incomes may deepen should Abenomics deliver on its promise of inflation, without prompting companies to start increasing compensation.

Among the burdens reducing the incentive for Japanese companies to invest at home is the second-highest level of effective corporate taxes in the Group of Seven nations, executives say. The nation’s 35.6 per cent corporate tax rate compares with 25 per cent in China and 17 per cent in Singapore, according to the Ministry of Finance. Only the US has a higher rate at 39.1 per cent, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data.

Corporate tax

‘‘We want corporate taxes in line with other nations,’’ Hiroshi Tomono, chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation and president of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, said at a gathering of industry leaders last week in Karuizawa, northwest of Tokyo.

Abe, who took office as prime minister for the second time in December after leading the LDP to victory in lower house elections, has already overseen a recalibration of the nation’s monetary policy. He installed inflation-target advocate Haruhiko Kuroda in March. Kuroda followed through with an unprecedented plan to double the monetary base over two years.

Consumer prices excluding fresh food are forecast to rise 0.3 per cent in June from a year before, the first increase in 14 months, based on the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg news before a July 26 report.

Meantime, slowing growth risks stoking dissent among LDP lawmakers just as Abe embarks on his reform legislation. Gross domestic product rose an annualized 2.8 per cent in the three months through June, compared with 4.1 per cent in the first quarter, a survey of 29 economists by Bloomberg indicates.

‘‘Abe has a window of opportunity to undertake real reforms’’ if he’s willing to use his political capital, said Takuji Okubo, chief economist at Japan Macro Advisors in Tokyo. ‘‘Members within Abe’s LDP with vested interests will be against reforms -- especially on health care, pensions and agriculture.’’

Bloomberg

[CityFarmer]

More news update on Japan's Abenomics

Japan cabinet OKs blueprint for spending cuts

TOKYO — Japan’s Cabinet approved today (Aug 8) a blueprint for cuts to welfare and public works spending intended to repair the nation’s overstretched finances.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has meanwhile deferred until later this year a decision on hiking Japan’s sales tax, which might help fortify public finances, but could do more harm than good if it derails the economic recovery nurtured by Mr Abe’s government.

Japan’s public debt amounts to more than twice the size of its economy, which is the world’s third largest. Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund reiterated its call for a “credible” fiscal plan to help bring it under control. Mr Abe is expected to respond to that call at a summit of the Group of 20 major developed and emerging economies early next month.

The plan approved today would slash social security spending and reduce public works costs by 10 per cent. So far, Mr Abe has focused on boosting spending to stimulate growth and fight deflation. Economists say the still-fragile recovery can be sustained only if the government tackles difficult reforms needed to improve Japan’s competitiveness and counter the impact of a fast-aging and shrinking population.

http://www.todayonline.com/business/japa...nding-cuts

Bank of Japan holds steady on monetary policy

TOKYO — The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept monetary policy steady and held off on revising up its assessment of the economy today (Aug 8), opting to wait for more clues on whether the increasingly positive mood will encourage companies to ramp up spending.

Bank lending rose nearly 2 per cent in July from a year earlier, the biggest increase in four years, BOJ data showed earlier in the day, boding well for the central bank’s efforts to boost lending with its aggressive monetary stimulus.

http://www.todayonline.com/business/bank...ary-policy

[CityFarmer]

More news on Japan's Abenomics...

Japan to study impact on economy of any sales tax hike

TOKYO — The Japanese government will make a decision on whether to raise the sales tax as planned sometime from late September to early October, the Economics Minister said yesterday, in what is becoming a test of whether the country’s politicians can enact painful but necessary reforms.

There are concerns that those members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration who favour delaying tax hikes are gaining traction, which could potentially derail the measure — an important first step towards repairing public finances.

“Raising the sales tax next year may not be the best option if the economy loses momentum, although the government will seek the best way to address challenges faced by Japan,” said Economics Minister Akira Amari.

Japan plans to raise the tax to 8 per cent from 5 per cent in April next year and to 10 per cent in October 2015 to meet rising health and welfare costs. But critics of the plan, including outspoken advisers to Mr Abe, worry about potential damage to the economy and are calling for a delay or a more moderate increase

http://www.todayonline.com/business/japa...s-tax-hike

[CityFarmer]

Update on the Abenomics....

Japan GDP grows a sluggish 2.6%

TOKYO — Japan’s economy slowed more than forecast in the second quarter, as housing and business investment declined, complicating Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision on whether to proceed with a planned sales-tax rise.

Gross domestic product rose an annualised 2.6 per cent, after gaining 3.8 per cent the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office reported today.

The median estimate of 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 3.6 per cent increase.

Unadjusted for price changes, nominal GDP growth accelerated to an annual pace of 2.9 per cent.

Today’s data may strengthen the calls from Abe adviser Etsuro Honda and other tax-plan sceptics for the Prime Minister to consider alternatives to the planned two-step increase in the consumption levy from April. Mr Abe will decide after revised GDP data due Sept 9 on whether the world’s third-largest economy is strong enough to withstand the likely blow to growth.

http://www.todayonline.com/business/japa...luggish-26

[CityFarmer]

Mr Market seems happy with the new policy...

Nikkei rises 2% on exports, corporate tax cut report

TOKYO — Japan’s Nikkei share average rose 2.0 per cent today (Aug 13) led by exporters on the yen’s retreat versus the dollar, while sentiment was lifted by a media report the government is considering lowering the corporate tax rate.

The Nikkei rose 263.62 points to 13,783.05 by mid-morning.

Investors took heart from a Nikkei report, citing government sources, stating that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering a corporate tax cut to offset the potential economic drag of a planned two-stage hike in the sales tax.

Traders said that if the corporate tax were reduced foreign direct investment into Japan would likely be boosted, while industrial hollowing-out — where manufacturing is relocated to countries with lower costs — may be avoided.

http://www.todayonline.com/business/nikk...cut-report

[CityFarmer]

Weakening of yen did help, but probably not enough...

Japan export growth at near three-year high

TOKYO — Japanese exports rose last month at the fastest annual pace in nearly three years as the benefits of a weak yen finally started to take hold, while brisk sales of cars and electronics to the rest of Asia, the United States and Europe showed a broad-based recovery in overseas demand.

But, Japan still ran its third-biggest trade deficit on record at 1.02 trillion yen (S$13.3 billion) in July, as the weak yen and rising oil prices made energy imports ever more expensive, which may drag on corporate profits in the months ahead.

All but two of the country’s 50 nuclear plants have been turned off after the March 2011 nuclear disaster, resulting in Japan having to import much more oil and gas.

Analysts expect the world’s third-largest economy to head for a steady recovery, although they say the continued slowdown in the growth of China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, poses a major risk.

“As a trend, exports are recovering and will keep growing because the positive effect of the weak yen will strengthen in the coming months,” said Mr Yoshiki Shinke, Chief Economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “Hopefully, that will offset risks, notably the possibility that China’s economic recovery will remain weak.”

http://www.todayonline.com/business/japa...-year-high

[CityFarmer]

Releasing an encouraging news to market, is part of an economic policy to boost a economic... IMO

Japan economy may have bottomed out in late 2012

TOKYO – Japan may have emerged late last year from its shortest economic contraction in roughly 60 years, findings of a government panel showed, as optimism generated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reflationary policies led to robust personal consumption.

Some members of a government panel, charged with gauging Japan’s economic cycle, though the economy may have hit bottom in November last year judging from trends in the coincident indicators’ index, a measurement of current economic conditions.

But the panel decided that more data and evidence would be needed before coming to a conclusion, though GDP data released earlier this month showed the economy expanded 2.6 per cent on an annualised basis in the second quarter of this year, slowing from 3.8 per cent growth in the first quarter.

http://www.todayonline.com/business/japa...-late-2012