daytrading march 10 morning, page-49

Some Japanese economic data is out, and it's a bit softer than predicted: the country's economy grew just 0.2 per cent in October-December from the previous quarter, revised down from a preliminary 0.3 per cent expansion due to slower growth in capital spending and private consumption, and below analyst expectations of a 0.3 per cent rise.

The revised gross domestic product figure translated into annualised growth of 0.7 per cent in real, price-adjusted terms, against an initial reading of 1.0 per cent. Economists had forecast annualised growth of 1.0 per cent.

Capital spending rose 0.8 per cent in the quarter, revised down from an initial 1.3 per cent increase. Private consumption rose 0.4 per cent during the quarter, slower than an initial estimate of 0.5 per cent growth.

In other data, Japan's current account logged a record deficit in January, as a bulging trade deficit eats into the country's balance of payments.

The deficit stood at 1.589 trillion yen, against economists' median estimate of a 1.4 trillion yen deficit. It followed a 638.6 billion yen shortfall in the previous month, which was the biggest amount in comparable data going back to 1985.