"There's no doubt that Japan's economy is already in a recession"
- Kiichi Murashima, chief economist at Citigroup Inc.
Japan posted its fourth straight monthly trade deficit due to a dramatic fall in exports adding to signs that the world's third biggest economy is heading towards the recession. The Ministry of Finance said that nation's trade gap widened to 549 billion yen in October, while the deficit came much bigger than the ¥360 billion shortfall expected by the economists. In the meanwhile, shipments to China were down 11.6% from a year ago, compared with a 14.1% drop in September amid growing tensions between two countries. However, Japan's imports from China added 4% on yearly basis.
"There's no doubt that Japan's economy is already in a recession," said Kiichi Murashima, chief economist at Citigroup Inc. in Tokyo. "Political pressure for further monetary easing is building, and we expect the BOJ to take additional measures in January."
"With weak trade data, and likely a weak result to the BOJ's December Tankan survey, the BOJ could very probably ease in December," said Daiwa Securities senior economist Maiko Noguchi.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average soared 1.42 per cent, or 131.35 points, to 9,353.87. The broader Topix Index advanced 1.12 per cent, or 8.6 points, to 775.61.
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