TOKYO, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese Cabinet Office on Thursday made an upward revision to its preliminary forecasts as key composite indices that gauged the Japanese economy in September revealed increased productivity in industrial sectors and better-than-expected sales at small and medium-sized domestic companies.

    The Cabinet Office raised the composite index (CI) of coincident economic indicators, such as: personal income, GDP, industrial production and retail sales, from a preliminary estimate of 92.5 against 100 for the base year of 2005 to 92.7, an increase of 1.5 points from the previous month.

    The office also made a slight upward revision to September's CI of lagging indicators, which measure economic performance over the recent past and track factors that change as the economy does as a whole, such as the unemployment rate and consumer confidence. It's initial forecast was upgraded from 84.5 to 84.6.

    If the CI of coincident indicators rises in October the Cabinet Office will revise its economic assessment to "signaling improvements", according to the office's report Thursday.

    In the meantime however, its recent assessment based on the office's preliminary report, which described the index as "signaling a turning point", remains the official line from the Cabinet office.

    The index of leading indicators, such as the stock market, which act as short-term predictions of the economic climate, were left unchanged by the Cabinet Office's preliminary estimate of 86.4.

    The Cabinet Office with regard to future indicators concluded the economic outlook for small and medium-sized companies "suggested some improvement."

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