The tertiary industry activity index increased 0.1 percent in September from the previous month for the second straight monthly gain, after increasing 0.3 percent in August, the government said Wednesday.
The index stood at a seasonally adjusted 104.1 against the base of 100 for 2000, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report.
A METI official said service sector activity has been improving moderately since the second half of last year.
Of the 11 sectors covered in the report, the indexes for six expanded. They are restaurants and hotels, utilities, automobile repairs and hairdressing, information and telecommunications, mail delivery and postal savings, and transportation.
The indexes for the remaining five sectors -- cram schools, wholesale and retail sales, medical and welfare services, real estate, and financial and insurance services -- declined.
The ministry official said the index for the wholesale and retail sales fell 1.3 percent from the previous month as trading houses restructured unprofitable sections.
The index of all industrial activity, a supply-side gauge of economic growth, lost 0.1 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 102.0 for September, due to declines in industrial output data, according to the official. In August, the index rose 0.2 percent to 102.1.