Japan economy shows good momentum

Japan’s economy expanded in the October-December quarter as the country recovered from a slew of natural disasters, the government said in a report on Thursday. According to the Cabinet Office, the economy in the recording quarter grew at an annualized rate of 1.4 percent. The figure for gross domestic product, the total value of goods and services produced in Japan during the quarter, follows a 2.6 percent contraction in the previous quarter on an inflation-adjusted basis, the government’s preliminary figures showed. China remained the largest buyer of Oman’s crude oil in January despite a decrease from the previous month, a monthly report by Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas said on Wednesday. Oman’s production of crude oil and condensate in January amounted to about 30.08 million barrels, with a daily average of 970,268 barrels, according to the report. The total crude exports reached about 23.3 million barrels in the same month, the report said. The two-tier real estate market continued in New Zealand as five regions saw record prices, with Auckland and Canterbury, the two densely populated areas, witnessing price falls, according to the latest data released from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand on Thursday. January has pointed to a twotiered real estate market continuing with 14 out of 16 regions experiencing annual increases in the median price for residential properties, while Auckland and Canterbury saw prices fall, REINZ statistics showed.