Japan averts technical recession as economy grows 0.4% in Q4
Japanese stocks led losses in Asian markets on Monday, with the Nikkei plunging more than 2 percent, slipping below the 39,000 mark, while the Topix was down around 1.9 percent. That's as Japan reported revised data showing the economy expanded 0.4 percent year on year in the final quarter of last year- averting a technical recession. Provisional data last month had shown GDP contracting 0.4 percent. It was helped by an upward revision to business investment, from an initially reported 0.1 percent decline to a 2 percent jump, BUT private consumption, which accounts for about 60% of the economy, shrank for the third straight quarter. Separately in China, data showed the country had returned to inflationary territory after four months of deflation, with the consumer price index climbing 0.7 percent in February