Sentiment among Japanese big manufacturers drastically worsened with the global financial crisis taking a severe toll on the real economy, the Bank of Japan's December tankan survey showed Monday.
The headline diffusion index in the central bank's quarterly survey of corporate sentiment showed that conditions among large manufacturers plunged to minus 24 in December from minus 3 in the September survey.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast on average that the DI for large manufacturers would fall to minus 23.
The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are bad.
Sentiment among large non-manufacturers also deteriorated to minus 9 in December from a reading of plus 1 in September.
That was in line with economists' forecasts. The results may strengthen the view that Japan will slide into a deeper and longer recession as corporate performance flags.
Some analysts say such a rapid fall in sentiment may prompt the BOJ to cut interest rates again in coming months to prevent the economy from entering a free-fall.
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