Japan's Ministry of Finance released its current account figures on late Tuesday. The current account surplus jumped to 1,440.1 billion yen in February from a 61.4 billion yen surplus in January, exceeding expectations for a surplus of 1,150 billion yen. It was the highest level since September 2011.

The increase was driven by the higher value in yen terms of income from overseas investments and a smaller trade deficit.

The trade balance deficit fell to 143.1 billion yen in February from the deficit of 864.2 billion yen in the previous month.

Falling oil prices helped to lower the trade deficit.

Exports rose at an annual rate of 0.4%, while imports dropped at an annual 6.2%.