Japan's factory activity expands at fastest pace in nearly four years

Japan's factory activity grew in November at the fastest pace in nearly four years, as manufacturers' output and orderbooks improved on a moderation in critical supply bottlenecks.

Businesses, however, said cost pressures remained an issue as materials shortages and delivery delays caused input prices to surge the most in 13 years.

The final au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in November rose to 54.5 on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking its fastest pace of expansion since January 2018.

The figure, which compared to the prior month's 53.2 and a 54.2 flash reading, also marked the 10th straight month of expansion