JAPAN’S services sector activity expanded for the first time in four months in April, as consumer sentiment recovered after the government lifted coronavirus curbs following a decline in domestic Omicron infections. The final au Jibun Bank Japan Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 50.7 from the previous month’s final of 49.4. That was also better than a 50.5 flash reading for April. The figure marked the first expansion since December. “The easing of Covid-19 restrictions allowed customer-facing businesses to operate more freely in April,” said Usamah Bhatti, economist at S&P Global, which compiles the survey. Business in the sector saw overall input prices rise at the steepest rate since August 2008 on higher raw material, fuel and wage costs, the survey showed. Private sector firms overall faced further rises in cost pressures due to persistent material shortages and delivery delays amid the Ukraine war and longer coronavirus curbs in economic giant China, Japan’s largest trading partner. “Private sector firms commented on a stagnation in new order growth ... as demand conditions eased at both goods and services firms,” Bhatti said. “Cost burdens ... continued to intensify in April, pushing both input price and output charge inflation to the second-highest levels recorded in the survey history.”

The composite PMI, which is calculated using both manufacturing and services, expanded at a slightly faster rate than in the previous month, rising to 51.1 from March’s 50.3 final. AFP