FRANKFURT (MktNews) - Corporate sentiment among large Japanese manufacturing firms improved slightly in December, according to the Bank of Japan's quarterly "Tankan" survey released Friday.
The diffusion index for large manufacturing companies rose to -9 in December from -14 in September, the BOJ said in a press release. Large manufacturers also projected the index would deteriorate slightly to -10 in March 2003, according to the survey results. However, sentiment among large non-manufacturing firms deteriorated to -16 from -13 in September. Large non-manufacturers see the index improving only slightly to -15 in March 2003.
Among small firms, manufacturing sentiment fell to -37 from -33 in September, but should improve slightly to -36 next March, the BOJ said. Non-manufacturers' sentiment fell to -38 from -36 and could deteriorate further to -41 next spring. Large Japanese firms plan to cut their capital investment by 6.8% in the 2002 fiscal year, which ends next March. Large manufacturers see investment falling 10.7% and large non-manufacturers see a 4.3% drop.
Small firms expect capital investment to drop 4.1%, with manufacturing down 6.6% and non-manufacturing down 3.2%. //www.marketnews.com