Japan's Cabinet Office released its consumer confidence index on Thursday. The consumer confidence index increased to 40.9 in May from 40.8 in April.

The increase was driven by rises in 3 of 4 sub-indexes. The overall livelihood sub-index increased to 39.7 in May from 39.6 in April, the income growth sub-index remained unchanged at 40.8, the employment sub-index rose to 42.9 from 42.8, while the willingness to buy durable goods sub-index was up to 40.2 from 39.8.