Japan consumer sentiment falls for 4th quarter: BOJ

July 5, 2019

Tokyo, July 5 (Jiji Press)--Consumer sentiment in Japan has weakened for the fourth straight quarter, a Bank of Japan survey showed Friday.

The diffusion index representing the gap between the percentage of respondents who think economic conditions improved from a year before and that of those feeling the opposite came to minus 25.0 in June, down 5.8 points from the previous March survey, hitting the lowest level since minus 27.3 in June 2016, according to the quarterly survey.

The deterioration mainly reflected slowing growth of the Chinese economy and a flurry of news reports on the prolonged U.S.-China trade war, a BOJ official said.

The DI for the respondents' economic outlooks a year ahead fell 5.5 points to minus 36.1, the lowest since September 2012, when the index stood at the same level.

In the latest survey, valid responses were collected from 2,050 people. Jiji Press