A raft of weak Japanese data releases in overnight Asian trading saw the Yen decline and the Nikkei 225 rise, as speculation mounted that the Bank of Japan will introduce further stimulus measures.

Japanese Data

Tokyo Core Consumer Price Inflation

In a report issued by the Statistics Bureau, official data showed on Thursday that Tokyo’s core consumer price inflation dropped last month at a rate more than had been expected. Tokyo’s core CPI, which excludes fresh food costs dropped to at an annualized rate of -0.3%, down from the -0.1% recorded in January. The figures came after analysts had been expecting Tokyo’s core CPI to show a decline to just -0.2% for last month.

Japan’s National Core CPI

In a separate report issued by Statistics Bureau, official data showed on Thursday that Japan’s national core rate of consumer price inflation surprisingly stayed the same in February. Japan’s National Core CPI stayed at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.0%, having registered 0.0% in January. This came after analysts had been expecting Japan’s National Core CPI to increase to 0.1% for February.

The weak data looks set to add pressure on the Bank of Japan who eased monetary policy only two months ago. The soft Japanese data releases saw the Nikkei 225 close up 0.65% on expectations of further stimulus measures being added sooner rather than later