The Bank of Japan's quarterly survey of business sentiment shows an improved mood among large manufacturers following a weakening of the Japanese yen.

The "tankan" survey released Wednesday showed a measure of business confidence among automakers and other big manufacturing companies rose to 10 from six. Though modest, it was the first such improvement in over a year.

However, the outlook for services companies and other non-manufacturing firms was flat at 18.

The survey comes a day before the Bank of Japan is due to hold its last meeting of the year. It is expected to leave policy unchanged given signs of improved conditions in the economy.

The yen has recently weakened to about 115 yen to the U.S. dollar from near 100 yen. That is a boon for exporters and companies with operations overseas.

Overall, the economy is still growing much more slowly than was hoped given the massive monetary easing of the past few years. The key policy interest rate is negative but corporate investment in factories and hiring remains anemic.

The economy grew at a 1.3 percent pace in July-September, the third straight quarter of expansion but below forecasts by most economists.