Reuters: Market News: UPDATE 1-Japan Feb current account balance swings back to surplus

Reuters: Market News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-Japan Feb current account balance swings back to surplus Apr 9th 2012, 00:43 Tweet Share this Email Print Sun Apr 8, 2012 8:43pm EDT * Feb current account surplus falls 30.7 pct yr/yr * Feb surplus follows record deficit in January * Analysts expect current account to stay in surplus By Rie Ishiguro TOKYO, April 9 (Reuters) - Japan's current account balance swung back to a surplus in February after marking a record deficit the previous month, as improvement in exports added to steady income gains from overseas investments. While improvement in exports may be slow, analysts expect Japan's current account balance to stay comfortably in surplus on continued gains from overseas investments, easing worries that the country may soon need to rely on overseas funds to finance its huge debt pile. "We could still see some trade deficits in the future, but they will shrink as exports recover due to a pickup in the global economy, led by improvement in the outlook for the U.S. economy," said Hiroaki Muto, senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management in Tokyo. "In addition, Japan still has a healthy surplus in the income balance, so the current account balance can avoid swinging to a deficit." Japan logged a current account surplus of 1.1778 trillion yen ($14.30 billion), finance ministry data showed on Monday, more than a median forecast for 1.1485 trillion yen, after posting a record deficit of 437.3 billion yen in January. But the February surplus was down 30.7 percent from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed, smaller than the median forecast of a 32.5 pct fall in a Reuters poll but signaling recovery in exports may be sluggish. The current account balance, a broad measure of trade and other flows, deteriorated sharply last year as exports slumped and fuel import costs surged after the devastating March earthquake that led to shutdowns in nuclear power plants. Japan's economy is seen headed for a moderate recovery as the yen's retreat from record highs and solid growth in emerging economies ease the pain on exports. But any rebound will likely be modest with companies still hesitant to boost output and capital expenditure, keeping pressure on the Bank of Japan to offer additional monetary stimulus in coming months, analysts say. The BOJ is expected to refrain from easing monetary policy next week but many analysts expect it to act at another meeting on April 27, when it issues new long-term economic and price projections. Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions