- Minoru Nogimori, an economist at Nomura Securities Co
Japan's exports grew robustly in October, rising the most in eight months, adding to optimism that global demand could help the world's third-biggest economy recover from recession and support the Bank of Japan's upbeat economic outlook. Overseas shipments surged 9.6% from the previous year to the highest level since October 2008, overshooting economists expectations for a 4.5% gain. It is expected that the weaker Yen may support shipments further. The Japanese Yen has fallen significantly over the last two years, largely due to unprecedented monetary stimulus from the Bank of Japan. This week the currency hit fresh multi-year lows, after data on Monday showed the economy shrank for the second-straight quarter in the third quarter, putting Japan in a technical recession. According to the flash data, Japan's GDP shrank 0.4% in the June-September quarter, signalling that the economy has not yet recovered from a sales-tax hike in April which crippled demand. Imports, meanwhile, rose 2.7%. As a result Japan's trade deficit narrowed to 710 billion yen in October from 958.3 billion a month earlier, according to the Ministry of Finance. In another sign that the Japanese economy is regaining its footing, a private flash survey revealed that factory output rose in November at the fastest pace since March. The output component of the manufacturing PMI index, which fell to 52.1 in November from 52.4 a month earlier, rose to a preliminary 53.5 from 51.3 in October, hitting an eight-month high.
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