China's inflation cools to four-month low

China's consumer inflation rate rose 2% in August from a year earlier, below the government's target of 3.5% and marking a four-month low.

The country's official consumer price index (CPI) figure is its main inflation gauge and the August figure compares with a rise of 2.3% in July.

Lower prices for pork, a Chinese staple, contributed to the monthly CPI reading, state news agency Xinhua said.

Pork prices dropped by 3.1% during the period.

However, the cost of fresh fruit rose by

Japan's economy signals stagnation and weakness

Japan's economy has shown signs of stagnation and some weakness as households spent less and factory output stayed flat in July.

Official data released on Friday also showed consumer inflation stayed unmoved at 3.3% from the month before.

Japan raised its sales tax from 5% to 8% in April so analysts said "real" inflation for July was actually 1.3%.

Japan's economy, which is the world's third-largest, suffered from deflation for almost two decades.

The central bank's current target for the inflation rate is 2%.

Sales tax

Since coming to power in 2012, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has seen his various reforms aimed at reviving the economy provide some relief to the country's deflation concerns.

Mr Abe's reforms, dubbed 'Abenomics', have been aimed at boosting inflation, among other targets, in the hope that consumers would spend instead of save.

An employee of Toyota Motor's subsidiary Toyota Motor Kyushu at the Kanda Plant in