Friday 7 April 2006

Japan's leading indicators pointing up

Yesterday was a good day for Japan.

Japan's leading index for February shows economic growth will continue.

Japan's broadest index of future economic activity showed the economy may achieve its longest expansion since World War II later this year.

The leading index, which measures consumer confidence and other indicators, was at 80 percent in February from 81.8 percent in January, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today, matching the median estimate of 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. A number at or above 50 signals the economy will grow in the next three to six months.

The Conference Board's leading index for Japan tells a similar story, rising 0.4 percent in February.

The leading index increased again in February, and it has been increasing steadily for the last nine months. With February's gain, the growth rate of the leading index has continued to increase steadily as well....

With the increase of 0.4 percent in February, the leading index now stands at 101.9 (1990=100). Based on revised data, this index increased 0.5 percent in January and increased 0.4 percent in December. During the six-month span through February, the index increased 2.5 percent, and seven of the ten components advanced (diffusion index, six-month span equals 70.0 percent).

Orders for machine tools -- a key leading indicator -- were up in March.

Japanese machine tool makers received orders worth a total of 124.31 bln yen in March, up 4.5 pct from a year earlier and up 10.3 pct from the previous month, the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association (JMTBA) said in a preliminary report.

And investors have endorsed the outlook for Japan.

The Topix jumped 29.62, or 1.7 percent, to 1775.67, the highest since Nov. 15, 1991, at the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 245.35, or 1.4 percent, to 17,489.33, the highest since July 11, 2000.

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