Japan's second quarter growth revised up, China's inflation slows

Japan's second quarter growth has been revised up to 0.9 percent from the preliminary reading of 0.6 percent.

However, the good news for the second quarter was not quite matched by data for August.

The consumer confidence index for general households fell for the third consecutive month in August to 43.0 from 43.6 in July.

The Cabinet Office's economy watchers survey showed that the current conditions index fell for the fifth consecutive month in August to 51.2 from 52.3 in July. The future conditions index fell to 51.2 from 53.6.

Meanwhile, over in China, a report on Monday showed that inflation slowed to 2.6 percent in August from 2.7 percent in July. Producer prices rose 0.1 percent in August from the previous month, the first increase in six months, but were still down 1.6 percent from the previous year.

On Sunday, another report from China had shown that the trade surplus widened in August as exports rose 7.2 percent from the previous year and imports rose 7.0 percent.