The governing party’s unexpected choice of Sanae Takaichi as its leader and Japan’s likely next prime minister caused the yen to weaken and stocks to soar on Monday.

Japan equities jumped after the country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected staunch conservative Sanae Takaichi as its new leader Saturday.

Much depends on whether new Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi can successfully find an additional coalition partner.

Japan's factory output fell more than expected while retail sales declined for the first time in over three years in August, government data showed, heightening uncertainties about the economic outlook.

Japan’s governing party on Saturday elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, making her likely to become the country’s first female prime minister.

Motoko Shimada fondly recalls when a classmate at her public school in the western Japanese city of Nara, Sanae Takaichi, showed early signs of the leadership that would set her on course to become the country's first female prime minister.

Takaichi has been a vocal advocate of "Abenomics", a hefty mix of government spending and monetary stimulus deployed by her mentor, then-premier Shinzo Abe, to pull Japan out of deflation and ease the pain of a surging yen on the export-reliant economy.