Japan's current account surplus climbed in October from a year earlier on the back of firm exports to Asia, raising hopes manufacturers were being spared the effects of a sharp downturn in US demand.
The surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, rose 23.5 per cent from a year earlier to 936 billion yen (€7.5 billion), the Ministry of Finance said today.
The trade surplus jumped 71.1 per cent year-on-year, but analysts said this was helped by the base-effect of last year's September 11th attacks and a recent shutdown of West Coast ports.
A lacklustre income account due to dismal returns on Japanese firms' overseas investment subdued the overall current account surplus, they said.
"The trade balance was in line with the customs-cleared trade data, but the income balance was not so good, reflecting a tougher investment environment worldwide," said Mr Minako Iida, an economist at Deutsche Securities in Tokyo.
The current account surplus fell in September for the first time in a year, but for April-September - the first half of the fiscal year - it rose about 25 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Analysts said the outlook was mixed. Some say recent data shows Japan will maintain a firm surplus for a while yet.
In addition to relatively strong growth of 13.9 per cent in exports in October, figures for the first 20 days of November showed last week that exports rose 19 per cent from the same period a year earlier on a customs-cleared basis.