Masamichi Adachi

Stocks plunged in Tokyo on Monday after the yen surged in reaction to Shigeru Ishiba's election last week as the head of Japan's ruling party, which boosted expectations the Bank of Japan will continue hiking interest rates.

Japan's consumer prices rose 3.1 percent in February from a year earlier, slowing from the four-decade highs seen in previous months, government data showed on March 24.

The figure, which excludes volatile fresh food, met market expectations and comes after the government introduced relief measures for soaring energy bills.

Japan's economy rebounded to grow 1.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to December, driven by higher demand after emergency virus restrictions were lifted, data showed yesterday.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, fresh from a bruising battle over unpopular military legislation, announced on Sept.24 an updated plan for reviving the world's third-largest economy, setting a GDP target of 600 trillion yen ($5 trillion).