Major manufacturers’ sentiment hits 10-year high

October 2, 2017

TOKYO- Business sentiment among large manufacturers in Japan hit a 10-year high in September amid brisk exports on the back of an overseas economic recovery, the Bank of Japan's "tankan" quarterly survey showed Monday.

The results indicated that Japanese manufacturers are getting out of a long-term slump following the global financial crisis of 2008, analysts and economists said.

The headline diffusion index for large manufacturers' current business conditions rose from plus 17 three months before to plus 22, its highest level since the September 2007 survey, the central bank said. The DI improved for the fourth straight quarter.

The latest DI reading compared with the average forecast of plus 18 among 21 economic research institutes surveyed by Jiji Press. The DI represents the percentage of companies seeing good business conditions minus that of those feeling the opposite.

"The September results were stronger than expected," said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at the NLI Research Institute. Jiji Press