Asia-Pacific shrugging off the slump despite Japan setbacks

Asia-Pacific is pulling strongly out of recession, a slew of economic data showed overnight.

However, there are fears the effect of the financial stimulus in Japan, traditionally the economic leader in the region, may be slowing.

Out of Tokyo it was reported that Japanese manufacturing grew at its fastest rate in three years.

That was tempered by official figures showing industrial output in August rose by 1.8%. While that was the sixth straight month of growth — Japan officially came out of recession at the beginning of the second quarter — it was a slower rate than in July. Worse, forecasts indicate output growth in Japan is falling again this month.

Elsewhere the picture was more unequivocal.

Production in China was strong for the sixth consecutive month, workers were showing busiest productivity in more than two years and new export orders increased for the fourth month in a row.

In Australia retail sales in at the start of its spring beat forecasts while in New Zealand business confidence has risen to its highest this century.