Japanese shares soar 7% as yen weakens

Disappointing Q4

The Japanese equity market recorded one of its strongest ever trading days yesterday, with the Nikkei rebounding over 7% from last week's losses, as a weaker yen boosted shares.

The index soared 7.16% to 16,022 by the close of trading, despite the announcement that Japan's economy performed worse than expected in Q4. It contracted at an annualised rate of 1.4%, below analysts' expectations of 1.2%, as a sharp decline in consumption weighed on performance. This has pushed Japan even further into recession, after growth contracted in Q2 and Q3 last year, raising additional concerns about the overall effectiveness of Abenomics and the impact of China's slowdown on Japan. However, equities shrugged off the poor economic date as the yen weakened after strengthe...