Japan’s malaise continues

Shinzo Abe’s “shock and awe” tactics are having little impact on the nation’s deflationary malaise, official figures showed yesterday.

The Japanese Prime Minister wants to hit a 2 per cent inflation target with the help of a huge money-printing and fiscal stimulus programme, but April data showed Japan’s consumer price index down 0.4 per cent year on year. Industrial production fell 2.3 per cent.

The unprecedented monetary boost has sent money flooding into shares, with the Nikkei Average remaining 30 per cent higher this year despite recent market wobbles.