Japan's central bank has refrained from promising more stimulus for the world's third-largest economy despite equity and bond market turbulence in recent weeks.

The Japanese economy powered forward by an upwardly revised 1 per cent in the first quarter of the year, reflecting the impact of the Tokyo government's reflationary drive.

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

London's stock market always reacts to big global news – but yesterday investors got more than they bargained for. Korean nuclear threats, the re-emergence of bird flu, eurozone fears and yesterday's scary US jobs data caused even the most optimistic punter to make a quick exit. The blue-chip index fell to a two-month low – the biggest one-day fall since 7 November last year.

The Bank of Japan launched “shock and awe” tactics today to pull the world’s third-biggest economy of its deflationary spiral with a hugh expansion of its money printing programme.

A last-minute package of rescue loans that saves Cyprus from a banking collapse and bankruptcy helped push Asian stock markets higher today.

The official China Daily newspaper quotes an unnamed source from the Ministry of Culture as saying 'We are reviewing the policy...'

Asian stock markets fell today after a slowdown in Japan's growth gave investors another reason to worry about the health of the global economy.

World markets were badly hit yesterday as the fallout from poor US economic data, warnings over the future of the Euro and fears of a global recession spooked investors.

A tumultuous year for stock markets ended today with the FTSE 100 Index down nearly 6% in 2011 - but investors may be thankful the decline was not worse.

Olympus' former chief executive Michael Woodford yesterday dismissed as "desperate" reports that the board which ousted him is now considering tapping rival firms such as Sony and Fujifilm to raise as much as $1.3bn (£830m) in new capital.

Asian stock markets fell today as criticism by ratings agencies sparked scepticism about a historic European Union plan to fix a massive debt crisis by binding member economies closer together.

Setbacks in Europe's efforts to isolate a debt crisis before it blows up into an all-out recession sent Asian stock markets tumbling today.

The prospect of Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi stepping down teased investors back to the market today although concerns remain over his country's increasingly fragile finances.