Japan's manufacturing grows less than estimated, Abe concerned about Yen weakness

Activity in the manufacturing sector of Japan continues to expand, however, the pace of increase slowed in September. The benchmark purchasing managers' index for this sector dropped to 51.7 points, down from 52.2 points in August, but it still indicates a rise in activity. Therefore, analysts say the country's manufacturing jumped in the third quarter as a whole. The data is easing fears that producers took a pause in manufacturing process to sell excess inventories. Moreover, statistics on wages and consumer spending is supposed to be released soon in order to calculate GDP growth for the present quarter. Economists expect a rebound after a sharp decline in April-June.

Data on economic development is important for Japanese government to determine, whether to raise the sales levy for the second time any time soon. Both consumer spending and exports will be monitored closely. At the same time, despite a positive impact from weakening Yen on exports' performance, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raises concern about development of country's currency. He is planning to watch carefully the impact, which cheaper Yen is putting on the economy. Analysts, in turn, speak about more theoretical remarks from Prime Minister's side, as Japanese officials would prefer the Yen to lose value, as long as it takes place gradually.