Japan large firms Jan-March business sentiment index 6.2 vs 6.4 in Dec

Japan large firms Jan-March business sentiment index 6.2 vs 6.4 in Dec

	Published : Thu, 22 Mar 2007 01:34 By : Agencies Print this Story

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - The business sentiment diffusion index for leading companies stood at 6.2 for the January-March quarter, down from 6.4 in the October-December quarter, according to the results of a quarterly survey conducted by the Ministry of Finance and the Cabinet Office.

The index is computed by subtracting the percentage of large companies reporting deteriorating business conditions, from the percentage reporting improvement. A positive figure shows the majority of large companies are seeing improvement.

The finance ministry gave the following breakdown of the business sentiment diffusion indices for January-March, compared with the figures in October-December:

Total - 6.2 vs 6.4

Manufacturers - 0.1 vs 7.1

Non-manufacturers - 9.8 vs 6.0

It gave the following forecasts for the April-June quarter and the July-September quarter:

Total - 4.2 for April-June, 9.9 for July-September

Manufacturers - 4.1 for April-June, 11.8 for July-September

Non-manufacturers - 4.3 for April-June, 8.8 for July-September

It gave the following revised forecasts for current profit, revenue and capital spending for the fiscal year ending March 2007, compared with the estimates from the December survey:

All firms' current profit - up 4.5 pct vs up 3.6 pct

All firms' revenue - up 2.6 pct vs up 2.2 pct

All firms' capex - up 8.1 pct vs up 8.6 pct

Manufacturers' current profit - up 7.4 pct vs up 6.4 pct

Manufacturers' revenue - up 5.1 pct vs up 5.2 pct

Manufacturers' capex - up 15.8 pct vs up 16.8 pct

Non-manufacturers' current profit - up 2.2 pct vs up 1.7 pct

Non-manufacturers' revenue - up 1.5 pct vs up 0.8 pct

Non-manufacturers' capex - up 4.0 pct vs up 4.2 pct

It also gave the following revised forecasts for current profit, revenue and capital spending for the fiscal year ending March 2008.

All firms' current profit - up 6.2 pct

All firms' revenue - up 1.4 pct

All firms' capex - down 5.3 pct

Manufacturers' current profit - up 2.8 pct

Manufacturers' revenue - up 2.1 pct

Manufacturers' capex - up 0.5 pct

Non-manufacturers' current profit - up 8.6 pct

Non-manufacturers' revenue - up 1.2 pct

Non-manufacturers' capex - down 8.9 pct

(1 usd = 117.48 yen)

kaori.kaneko@xfn.com