Japan's unemployment rate improved in August while a key economic survey released yesterday showed growing corporate optimism in the latest signs of a gradual rebound in the world's second largest economy.
The jobless rate fell to 4.8 percent in August from 4.9 percent in July, the government said yesterday, matching the forecast of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
The job situation in Japan had been getting better in recent months amid signs of a rebound on the back of strong exports and improved consumer spending. But it marked its first jump in half a year in July from 4.6 percent in June.
A key Bank of Japan report on business sentiment called "tankan" also indicated an economy on the mend in a reading that was the highest since May 1991, suggesting the latest upturn is the best since the burst of this nation's speculative "bubble" in the late 1980s.
The central bank survey showed the index of sentiment among large manufacturers improved to 26 in September from 22 in June. The indexes measure the percentage of companies saying business conditions are better minus the percentage saying things are worse.
The Tokyo stock market rose on the better-than-expected tankan. The Nikkei Stock Average, the exchange's main index, rose 1.3 percent in the morning session as investors welcomed it as a sign that the continuing recovery is likely on a solid track.
But the tankan also showed companies aren't quite convinced that business conditions will remain as good in the coming months in the face of rising oil prices and slower export growth.
Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government spokesman, acknowledged that strong recovery tends trail off in a cycle but played down worries that the turnaround may be derailed.
Some analysts warn that the growth that Japan has seen in recent months may run out of steam if there is an erosion in the US and Chinese demand, which has has driven Japanese exports. But they also say the economy isn't about to slide back into another recession.
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