Retail sales in Japan were up 2.5 percent on year in December, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Friday, standing at 13.049 trillion yen.
That beat forecasts for an increase of 2.1 percent following the upwardly revised 2.0 percent decline in November.
Sales from large retailers eased 0.4 percent on year, also topping expectations for a decline of 0.6 percent following the 2.5 percent fall in the previous month.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales collected 1.8 percent - well above forecasts for a gain of 0.4 percent following the 2.0 percent contraction a month earlier.
For the fourth quarter of 2011, retail sales added 0.8 percent on year to 35.003 trillion yen while large retail sales shed 1.3 percent on year to 5.333 trillion yen.
For all of 2011, retail sales fell an annual 1.2 percent to 134.043 trillion yen, while large retailer sales lost 1.8 percent on year to 19.593 trillion yen.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com