Japan's tertiary index fell for the first month in five as consumers and companies reduced spending after the biggest expansion in a year in January. The service industries index shrank 1.5% in February from January, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report. Economists had forecasted a 1.1% contraction. The all-industries index, which covers a broader range of economic activity and includes the tertiary index, fell 0.9% from the previous month, compared with a median forecast of a 1.1% fall. "Basically, it's a reaction to the jump we saw a month earlier," said Yoshimasa Maruyama, economist at BNP Paribas. "Looking at the January-March quarter as a whole, the uptrend is still intact. This comes after the sharp rise in October-December," he added.