MNI BRIEF: Japan's Feb Sentiment Posts First Rise in 4 Months

Japan's sentiment index posted the first rise in four months in February and the outlook index posted the third straight rise, prompting the government to upgrade its assessment from the previous month, the Economy Watchers survey released by the Cabinet Office Wednesday showed.

The Economy Watchers sentiment index for the current economic climate rose a seasonally adjusted 3.5 points to 52.0 in February from 48.5 in January. “The economy is recovering moderately. Looking ahead, there is hope for a continuous recovery, although there are concerns over the impact of high prices,” the government said. The upward revision is the first in five months. The previous view was the economy showed "signs of recovering".

The outlook index for two to three months ahead rose 1.5 points to 50.8 in February from 49.3 in January. The rise in the outlook index supported the Bank of Japan's view that private consumption is expected to continue increasing, but bank officials are paying attention to whether ongoing price rises will weaken spending. Bank officials have acknowledged that spending by low-income households has fallen due to high living costs.

The survey indicates whether respondents with jobs most sensitive to economic conditions - including taxi and truck drivers, department-store sales staff and restaurant and shop owners - think economic conditions have improved or worsened over the last three months. It was conducted by the Cabinet Office between February 25 to 28 and targeted roughly 2,000 people, including store managers and taxi drivers.