JAPAN DATA: The Bank of Japan says its Sept real export index rose a
seasonally adjusted 3.5% m/m to 124.0 (100 for the 2005 base year), the
5th straight m/m rise, with the pace of increase accelerating from +0.1%
in August and +0.4% in July. The September reading was the highest since
126.5 in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed. Meanwhile, the
BOJ’s real import index fell a seasonally adjusted 1.8% m/m to 105.0,
the first drop in six months after a no-change reading in August, +1.9%
in July and +0.2% in June. The BOJ calculated the indexes based on the
unadjusted September trade data released by the Ministry of Finance
earlier, which showed +2.4% y/y in exports and +12.1% in imports. The
BOJ export index hit a recent bottom of 77.6 in February 2009 following
the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.