Japan's industrial production in October rose 0.2 per cent from the previous month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday. The second consecutive monthly increase came as economists had expected a fall. The jobless rate stood at a seasonally adjusted 3.5 per cent in October, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, the government said. The number of jobless people decreased by 30,000 to 2.34 million, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. The ratio of job openings to job seekers came to 1.10, an increase of 0.01 points from the previous month. But spending by Japanese households decreased in October by 4.0 per cent from a year before, the seventh consecutive month of year-on-year decline, the government said. Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.9 per cent from a year earlier. After adjustment to cancel April's hike in the sales tax from 5 to 8 per cent, core inflation was 0.9 per cent. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pursued aggressive monetary easing to fight Japan's persistent deflation problem, and set a target of 2 per cent inflaction. -- SPA 11:10 LOCAL TIME 08:10 GMT تغريد
