Japan's housing starts grew marginally in March, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism showed Friday. Housing starts grew only 0.2 percent year-on-year in March, but reversed a 2.6 percent fall in February. Economists had forecast housing starts to drop again by 2.6 percent in March. Annualized housing starts increased to 984,000 in March from 940,000 in February. Construction orders received by 50 big contractors grew at a slower pace of 1.1 percent year-on-year in March, after rising 5.7 percent in February. (full story)