TOKYO, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese consumer confidence in the first month of the year saw slight improvements amid surging prices, government data showed Wednesday.
The seasonally adjusted index of sentiment among households made up of two or more people edged up 0.8 points from December to 38.0, the Cabinet Office said in its monthly survey.
A reading below 50 suggests pessimists outnumber optimists.
The cabinet upwardly revised its basic assessment of the index, saying the consumer sentiment in January is "improving," compared with "showing signs of improvement" in the previous report.
Of the four sub-indices reflecting consumer perception, those for willingness to buy durable goods and employment conditions rose 1.4 points to 32.8 and 1.0 point to 42.9, respectively.
Meanwhile, consumers' view of their livelihood improved 0.8 points to 36.5, while their assessment of income growth came in at 39.7, up 0.1 points from December, according to the Cabinet Office.
In terms of price expectations, 91.1 percent of the surveyed expected prices in the country to go up during the year, the data showed.
The survey, which is carried out every month to gain a quick understanding of shifts in consumer perception as a tool for evaluating economic trends, was latest conducted on Jan. 15 and covered 8,400 households in total. ■