Japan on Thursday revised down its factory output data for April, showing a slight contraction that underscored the nation's anaemic factory activity.

Industrial production slipped by 0.2 percent rather than growing by 0.2 percent on-month due to lower-than-expected output of electronic parts, cosmetics and some beverages including iced and canned coffee, the economy, trade and industry ministry said.

Shipments rose 0.6 percent during the period, down from the preliminary reading of a 0.9-percent rise, it added.

Some economists have forecast Japan's moribund economy will rebound in 2012, boosted by reconstruction-related activity and recovering consumer demand after last year's quake-tsunami disaster.

But the sustained appreciation of the yen and financial turmoil in Europe have weighed on the world's third-largest economy.

A manufacturers' survey released last month showed that, while factory managers expected a 3.2-percent dip in output in May, it would be followed by a 2.4-percent production rise in June.