Japan sees rise in capital spending and unemployment

Japan's economy is giving mixed signals.

On Thursday, the government reported that capital spending excluding software rose 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the most in almost five years.

However, on Friday, January data showed that Japan's unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent last month from 4.5 per cent in the previous month while household spending fell 2.3 percent compared to the previous year.

Another report on Friday showed that Japan's core consumer prices fell 0.1 per cent in January from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive month of decline.