Japan comeback ?

Nov. 13, 2011, 8:07 p.m. EST

Japan’s economy rebounds in third quarter

By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch

Reuters

A display of Panasonic plasma televisions at an electronics shop in Tokyo.

SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The Japanese economy rebounded sharply in the last quarter, helped by the reconstruction efforts after March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, but the impact of fresh natural disasters and a persistently high yen cloud the nation’s growth outlook.

Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose an annualized 6.0% in the July to September period, the Cabinet Office reported Monday.

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Obama raises economic rebalancing with Chinese President Hu

U.S. President Barack Obama discusses the need for a rebalancing of the global economy in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii. Courtesy of Reuters.

The result marked the first expansion in four quarters and was broadly in-line with economists forecasts. A Reuters poll projected a 6.1% rise, while a survey by Dow Jones Newswires forecast a 5.9% gain.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP grew 1.5%.

Japan’s economy contracted 2.1% in the April-June period, in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the country on March 11.

An improvement in exports and consumer spending, as well as reconstruction spending helped the most recent result.

But the nation’s growth trajectory is expected to cool in coming months, as a persistently high yen and a still-weak global economy threaten its key export sector. The impact of recent flooding in Thailand has also hit output for many Japanese multinationals.

The Japanese yen eased slightly following the release of the data, with the dollarUSDJPY -0.17%  edging up to ¥77.24 from ¥77.18 just before the economic figures were announced. 

Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.