Japanese industrial production climbed a better-than-expected 2.1 per cent in January, lending some credence to the view that the economy has hit bottom after falling into a technical recession at the end of last year.
However, the survey from the trade ministry, released on Monday, forecast a decline in output of 0.5 per cent in February and a further fall of 1 per cent in March, taking some of the gloss off the strong headline number.
But at least some experts are willing to put a positive gloss on things.
Atsushi Nakajima, chief economist at Mizuho Research Institute, said the data were encouraging and confirmed his view that the economy had begun to grow again in January...
Mr Nakajima said one good sign was that the IT inventory adjustment was already well under way and was taking place against the background of rising, not falling, demand for products like flat-screen televisions and DVD recorder...
That optimistic view was partially supported with further data released on Monday, including the Purchasing Managing Index, which rose for the second straight month to a seasonally adjusted 51.7 from 50.9 in February.
And if you're part of the dollar death-watch party, Bloomberg has this for you:
The reports "are further confirmation that the economy has bottomed out and is recovering,'' said Naomi Fink, a currency strategist in Tokyo at BNP Paribas SA. "There's more room for the yen to move up. Equity flow is also giving underlying support'' to the Japanese currency...
"The recent data out of Japan have been good, proving this so-called recession is short-lived at most,'' said Robert Rennie, a currency strategist in Sydney at Westpac Banking Corp. "Equity inflows into Asia and Japan have been impressive as well, supporting currencies like the yen.''