Japan's tertiary industry activity index plunged in February from January, marking the largest margin of decline in seven years, the government said Friday.
But the shrinkage was mainly a reaction to growth the previous month, according to an official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The index fell 3.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted 106.2 against the 1995 base of 100, marking a first drop in three months and the largest margin of decrease since a 6 percent contraction was registered in April 1997, METI said in a preliminary report.
The indexes for all six sectors -- services, wholesale and retail sales, financial services and insurance, utilities, transport and communications, and real estate -- lost ground in February, the first such occurrence since December 2002.
Specifically, the index of the engineering business in the services sector fell 26 percent in reaction to large-lot demand in January, while that of the apparel and accessories retail sales business dropped 8.2 percent as warm weather in February dampened demand for winter clothing, the official said.