Tokyo, Feb 16 (IANS/EFE): Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.6 percent between October and December 2014, compared to the same quarter in the previous year, the government announced Monday.

Japan's GDP also showed an annualised expansion rate of 2.2 percent.

The progress of the third largest economy of the world was within the forecast of analysts who predicted a rebound after two consecutive quarter contractions which had put the country into a technical recession.

Private consumption constituting 60 percent of the Japanese economy displayed a 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter gain after a six-month-long acute deceleration that followed the 3 percent point hike in the value added tax (VAT) from 5 percent to 8 percent April 1

Other important GDP components such as exports and corporate investment increased by 2.7 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, compared to the third quarter of 2013.

Public investment, one of the three pillars on which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic strategy is based and known as 'Abenomics', increased by 0.6 percent

The GDP rise seemed to validate Abe's decision to cancel a second sales tax hike.

Following the government's release of the GDP data, the Nikkei index surpassed the 18,000 level for the first time since July 2007.