Ammon News - Japan's economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter, on improved business spending and a surprise increase in consumption and shoring up the central bank's case for more interest rate hikes.

Gross domestic product expanded 2.8% annualised in the October-December quarter, preliminary data showed on Monday, beating a median market estimate of a 1.0% gain in a Reuters poll.

The upbeat data helped lift Tokyo's Nikkei stock benchmark (.N225), opens new tab and the yen .

But while the data showed some bright spots for the world's fourth-largest economy, analysts said that the headline figure was flattered partly by a fall in imports, which improved net trade, as well as year-end bonuses.

"Details of the results indicate that the economy was not as strong as the headline number suggests," Kazutaka Maeda, an economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute, said.

The annualised increase in GDP follows a revised 1.7% growth in the previous quarter and translates into a quarterly rise of 0.7%, also better than the median estimate for a 0.3% uptick. Reuters