Japan's service sector sentiment improves for 2nd straight month in April

TOKYO, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Sentiment in Japan's service sector improved for a second straight month in April, a Cabinet Office survey showed on Thursday.

The monthly Economy Watchers survey's diffusion index, in which a score of more than 50 means people view current economic conditions in a positive light, rose 0.1 point from March to 49.0.

Based on the survey, the Cabinet Office maintained its assessment that the Japanese economy is "recovering moderately."

The Cabinet Office said that of those surveyed, some in the food industry had experienced solid sales with sentiment underpinned by a stable stock market.

Those across other service sectors also felt economic conditions had improved slightly from a month earlier, the survey showed.

The Cabinet Office said that conditions in the service sector would continue to improve in the coming months, with the sentiment index for economic conditions rising 0.5 point from March to 50.1.

"Looking ahead, while some respondents show concerns about labor shortages and subsequent price hikes, we also see their expectation for more business orders and capital investment," the Cabinet Office said.

The Economy Watchers Survey asks business-cycle sensitive workers their thoughts on existing and future economic conditions to provide the government with a detailed picture of economic trends in Japan.

Segments of the economy surveyed include sectors such as retail, restaurant service, and taxi driving and the monthly report serves as both a consumer confidence indicator and a leading indicator for the rest of the economy.

The improvement shown in April was due to more people saying things were getting "better" or "slightly better" and less people seeing conditions as being either unchanged or "worse."

The survey was conducted between March 25 and 31, and polled 2,050 workers across Japan. Enditem