According to the Statistics Bureau, the number of employed persons in November rose 0.4% from the precious year at 64.33 million while the number of unemployed fell 5% year on year to 2.46 million.

The unemployment rate on a seasonally adjusted basis declined 3.8% in November.

In addition the family income and expenditure survey showed the average monthly consumption pattern per household in November fell 0.6% from a year ago in real terms to 282,836 yen, while for worker’s households the amount of monthly income per household plummeted 2.1% in real term from the previous year at 435,640 yen.

Of the Nikkei 225 index stocks Mizuho Financial Group led advancers with a rise of 10.9% followed by gains in Hino Motors Limited of 10.88%, in Chiyoda Corp of 10.02%, in Sumitomo Osaka of 9.84%, and in Komatsu Limited of 9.38%.

Commodity stocks also rose as crude oil prices for March ddelivery spiked by $2.42 to $89.41 per barrel.

Chipmakers also gained as Microsoft led gainers on Wall Street after increasing its annual sales forecast to $60.5 billion. Advantest Corporation closed up.

Kao Corporation led decliners in the Nikkei 225 index stocks with a drop of 3.66% followed by declines in Nippon Light Metals of 3.30%, in Nissan Chemical Industries of 2.24%, in Fast Retailing of 0.73%, and in Comsys Holdings of 0.47%.

KDDI Corporation announced today that third quarter net income soared to 69 billion yen from 55 billion yen a year ago, while sales rose 5.5% to 904.4 billion after the company grew its subscriber base.

Operating profit also gained 40% to 121.4 billion yen and s further expected to rise 6.2% from the October forecast.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed higher 536.38 or 4.10% to 13,629.16, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index increased 1583.10 or 6.73% closed to 25,122.37, in Australia ASX 200 index higher 279.90 or 5.02% to close 5,860.30.

In South Korea Kospi Index increased 29.41 or 1.77% to close at 1,692.41, in Thailand SET index closed higher 31.14 or 4.27% to 759.72, and Indonesia JSE Index edged increased 103.79 or 4.12% to 2,620.49. Sensex index in India increased 1139.90 or 6.62% to 18,361.66.