Japan's unemployment rate rose for the first time in four months in July, in a slightly negative signal for both the Bank of Japan and the government.

The jobless rate increased to 2.7% from June, the ministry of internal affairs said Tuesday. Economists had expected the reading to hold at 2.5%. The number of workers fell by 100,000 from the previous month, while those without jobs rose by 110,000.

Separate data provided a slightly negative outlook for Japan's labor market conditions, with the jobs offers-to-applicants ratio declining to 1.29 in July from 1.30. The data is a leading indicator of the labor market trend and implies that there were 129 jobs available for every 100 applicants.

Source : Bloomberg