Japan economy rebounds in first quarter on firm consumption

Japan's economy grew 1.0 percent in January-March from the previous quarter, powering ahead of other major industrial nations thanks to rebuilding of the tsunami-battered northeast, solid private spending ...

By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Kaori Kaneko TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy grew faster than expec

TOKYO (Reuters) - Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kept up his calls on Tuesday for the Bank of Japan to drastically ease monetary policy by setting an inflation target of 2 percent, and repeated that he wants to tame the strong yen to help revive the economy.

Japan's economy grew by 1.0 percent in the January to March quarter compared with the previous three months, according to the latest official data, as the world's third-largest economy mounts a slow recovery.The preliminary figure from the Cabinet Office was slightly above expectations for a 0.9 percent rise, according to Dow Jones Newswires, while the economy grew an annualised 4.1 percent in the January to March period.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's core machinery orders rose at a faster pace than expected in January in a sign that rebuilding the country's tsunami-battered northeast coast could propel capital expenditure and support the fragile economy.

Japan on Friday said its economy grew by 1.2 percent in the January to March quarter from the previous three months, revising upward a preliminary figure of 1.0% growth.The latest data underscore a recovery driven largely by government spending and recovering domestic demand after Japan was battered by last year's quake-tsunami disaster.On an annualised basis, the economy grew a revised 4.7 percent in the quarter, higher than a preliminary 4.1 percent rise, according to figures from the Cabinet Office.