Japan's unemployment rate eased to 2.5% in April compared with the previous month's 2.7%, according to government data released on Friday.
The data showed that the number of people employed in April increased to a seasonally adjusted 68.76 million from 68.15 million the month prior, while the number of jobless people declined to 1.79 million from 1.86 million a month ago.
South Korea's retail sales increased 1.6% on an annual basis in April, slowing from 5.0% growth in the prior month, data from Statistics Korea showed on Friday.On a month-on-month basis, retail sales contracted 3.6%, reversing the 1.9% increase in March and marking the steepest drop since July 2020, according to the government data.
Tokyo's core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, rose 1.3% in May from a year earlier, marking the slowest pace in four years, according to official government data on Friday.The reading marks the sixth consecutive month of cooling in the capital.Excluding both fresh food and energy, the print showed a 1.6% rise compared with 1.9% in April.Headline CPI, which includes all items, grew 1.4%, slower than the 1.5% rise in April.
An analysis of tanker tracking data from Kpler showed that Japanese crude oil imports dropped 47% year-on-year from March through May, as the US-Iran conflict disrupts shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, Nikkei reported on Friday.Global Middle Eastern crude exports fell 48% during the period, while Japan experienced the steepest decline among the world's top ten oil importers, dropping from seventh place in 2025 to an even sharper contraction this year, said the news agency.To compensate, Tokyo has pivoted to US crude, which surged from 2% of Japan's petroleum imports in February to over 20% by May, while the share from Saudi Arabia and the UAE fell from 90% to 60%, the publication said.The crisis underscores Japan's vulnerability to Middle Eastern supply disruptions, though the government began releasing strategic reserves in late March and retains enough stockpiled oil to cover more than 200 days of domestic consumption, the report said.(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)