Japan in tentative recovery after last year's slump

Tokyo

JAPAN's economy emerged only falteringly from recession in the final quarter of last year as both personal consumption and corporate capital investment levels fell short of expectations, but the Tokyo stock market rose to a near-eight-year high on Monday, in anticipation of stronger recovery in coming months.

The Nikkei 225 stock average rose by 0.5 per cent to 18,004.77, after prime minister Shinzo Abe and other government ministers insisted that the world's third largest economy was on track for recovery despite the latest weak output data.

Real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, rose by a modest 0.6 per cent or at an annual rate of just 2.2 per cent in the final…