(CEP News) - Japan’s leading and coincident indexes fell further in January, reflecting ongoing deterioration in both current and future business conditions in the country.

The Japanese leading index fell to 77.1 in January, down from both the 77.4 reading expected and December’s 79.4 figure, according to preliminary estimates from the Economic and Social Research Institute. Meanwhile, December’s figure was revised down from an initial estimate of 80.0.

At the same time, the coincident index fell further to 89.6 from December’s 92.2 level, revised down from 92.4. Economists, however, had expected a slightly more modest fall to 89.8 for the month.

The leading index is a composite of 12 major leading indexes that includes inventory ratios, machinery orders, stock prices and other leading economic indicators.

The coincident index measures the current economic activity based on a collection of indicators that follow business conditions in Japan. The index includes industrial production, capacity utilization, retail and wholesale sales, power consumption, non-scheduled work hours, the job-offer rate and operating profits.

By Todd Wailoo, twailoo@economicnews.ca

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