Japanese machinery orders unexpectedly rose 1.4% in February

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese Machinery Orders Unexpectedly Rebound for the first time in five months in February, adding to signs that the recession may be easing.

Bookings, an indicator of capital investment in the next three to six months, climbed 1.4 percent from January, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 6.9 percent drop.
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“It’s highly likely that when we look back at this downturn we’ll see that February was when it hit bottom,” said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo. Still, he added, “bottoming out doesn’t mean Japan will have a solid recovery.”

The benchmark Topix stock index climbed 1.9 percent, extending its rally to 17 percent over the past month. The machinery index surged 3.7 percent, the biggest gainer among the Topix’s 33 groups. The yen traded at 99.85 per dollar at 9:57 a.m. in Tokyo from 99.74 before the report.

‘Green Shoots’

Economies around the world are showing signs of improvement as governments spend record amounts of money to bolster demand. Chinese urban fixed-asset investment climbed 26.5 percent in the first two months of 2009. South Korea left interest rates at 2 percent today after factory production gained and manufacturing confidence rose to a five-month high.
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“Spring has finally come to the market,” said Yoshihiro Ito, senior strategist at Okasan Asset Management Co., which oversees about $9.3 billion. “We’ve seen indicators that suggest the economy is bottoming out. People’s view on the economic outlook is gradually turning optimistic and this is leading to the rebound in the equity market.”

....“As signs of an economic recovery come into view, additional support measures will boost investor confidence,” Mitsushige Akino, who oversees the equivalent of $615 million at Tokyo-based Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

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Asian economies may be the first to emerge from the global crisis because the region’s banks hold fewer toxic assets than lenders elsewhere, said Zhao Xiaoyu, vice president of the Asian Development Bank, in an interview in Tokyo yesterday.
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April 9, 2009 06:24 EDT

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