Japan Consumer Sentiment Worsens in Dec.

Tokyo, Jan. 8 (Jiji Press)–Consumer sentiment in Japan in December worsened for the first time in five months, a survey by the Cabinet Office showed Thursday. The seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index, which measures sentiment among households with two or more members, fell 0.3 point from the previous month to 37.2. Still, the government agency kept unchanged its basic assessment that consumer sentiment is “picking up.” Among the four component indices, the index for income growth increased 0.3 point. The index for overall livelihood fell 0.3 point, that for employment dropped 0.2 point and that for willingness to buy durable goods was down 0.7 point. The survey found that the share of respondents expecting prices to be higher a year later rose 1.2 percentage points to 91.8 pct. The reading for price expectations was “roughly flat,” a Cabinet Office official said. With no significant price increases for fresh vegetables and rice, “prices have been stable recently, and there have been no major changes to price expectations,” the official said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]