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TOKYO, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Sentiment in Japan's service sector dropped in January for the first time in seven months, a Cabinet Office survey showed Wednesday.
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, fell 1.6 points to 49.8.
The score missed the the 50-point threshold for the first time in three months, the Cabinet Office said.
Marking its first downward revision in 11 months and citing inclement weather conditions as a contributing factor, the Cabinet Office said that Japan's economy is "picking up but there are signs of it taking a respite."
The sentiment index for economic conditions in the coming months dropped 1.5 points from a month earlier to 49.4, marking the second successive monthly decline, the government survey showed.
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 decline in January was due to fewer people saying things were getting "better" or "slightly better" and more people seeing conditions as being either unchanged or "worse".
The survey was conducted between Jan. 25 and 31, and polled 2,050 workers across Japan. Enditem
