Japan posts first trade surplus in 5 months

Japan posted its first trade surplus in five months in February, though the total plunged from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

The country's trade surplus for the month was 82.4 billion yen ($841 million), down 91.2 percent from last year. But it broke a run of four straight months in the red, and was an improvement from January's trade deficit of 952.6 billion yen _ the biggest negative trade balance since the government began compiling such data in 1979.

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