Japanese Retails Sales at 5.8%, Unemployment Rise to 4.6% - 29.5.2012

The annual Retail Sales in Japan increased by 5.8 per cent in April, less than 6.2 per cent as it was anticipated, while in March the annual Retail Sales showed an increase of 10.3 per cent. Additionally the Unemployment rate in Japan was unexpectedly increased by 0.1 per cent to 4.6 per cent in April from 4.5 per cent in March as the Statistics Bureau said. The yesterday Bank of Japan release of meeting minutes that held on 27 of April indicated that if Japanese Yen strengthens significantly BOJ will increase asset purchases. In conclusion, reduced increase rate of Retail Sales and higher Unemployment together with stronger Yen is hurting recovery in Japan, therefore BOJ have more incentives to increase stimulus. The USDJPY fell from the 84.11 to the 78.97 in the last 2-months, in other words the Yen appreciated by more than 6 per cent against the US dollar since the mid of March.