Japan s current-account deficit widens

MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Japan posted its widest-ever December current-account deficit, with the Finance Ministry reporting Monday that the gap hit ¥638.6 billion yen ($6.23 billion) for the third such deficit in a row. The result was wider than November s ¥592.8 billion shortfall but printed under the average forecast deficit of ¥695.3 billionin a survey from The Wall Street Journal and the Nikkei. The trade deficit narrowed slightly to ¥1.213 trillion from ¥1.254 trillion in November but still far outpaced income of ¥884.3 billion for the month. The Japanese yen showed little reaction to the data, however, with the dollar holding around ¥102.57, though it later retreated slightly to ¥102.47. The stock market, which had yet to open when the data came out, saw a 1.3% advance for the blue-chip Nikkei Stock Average .Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.