Japanese growth remains healthy

Japan's relies heavily on exports to the US

Japanese growth held steady in the fourth quarter, despite fears the economy may suffer from a US downturn.

The country revised its forecast down to 3.5% on an annualised rate from 3.7% in the period from October to December.

But economists now warn that Japan, which relies heavily on exports to the US, is likely to have been hit hard in the first quarter of this year.

Uncertainty about the resilience of the economy comes as the government faces a power vacuum at its central bank.

The cabinet office said the main reason for the downward revision stemmed from lower business investment than forecast during the quarter.

Leadership uncertainty

Japan's opposition Democratic Party has decided to veto the nomination of Toshiro Muto to be the next governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ).

The opposition said that as a former deputy finance minister, Mr Muto was too close to the government.

This means just when there is significant uncertainty around global markets, the central bank could be without a leader.

On Tuesday banks, including the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and central banks in the UK, Canada and Switzerland, decided to inject billions of dollars into money markets,.

That sent shares, including those in Asia, higher on Wednesday.