Large Japanese manufacturers are becoming less optimistic about their business outlook, a quarterly survey by the Bank of Japan said yesterday, underlying growing worries about the fragility of the nation's recovery.
However, in a bit of bright news in the central bank's survey, known as the tankan, the manufacturers still said they plan to increase capital spending.
The index of sentiments about business conditions among large manufacturers fell 8 points to 14 in March, from 22 in the December survey. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires on average had forecast an index of 22 for March.
PHOTO: AFP
The tankan indexes measure the percentage of companies saying business conditions are better minus the percentage saying things are worse.
The March result also is slightly worse than the large manufacturers' forecast in the previous tankan. In December, they said they expected the sentiment index to drop 7 points to 15 by March.
The companies are less optimistic following a string of weak economic indicators in Japan recently. Government officials have played down such signs, reassuring the public that the world's second largest economy continues to be on a rebound.
"While in an adjustment phase, the economy continues its recovery and the tankan overall backs up that view," Economy Minister Heizo Takenaka said.
Some analysts agreed with that view.
"The figures are weaker than expected across the board but these are still positive numbers," Peter Morgan, chief economist at HSBC in Tokyo, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The data are "still consistent with some moderate expansion" but there is no sign of a pickup in the pace of that expansion, he said.
The government spokesman said the economy won't head downward.
"The outlook is different depending on a type of business, but we think the economy is basically leveling off," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hososa said.
National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday said it disqualified a person from an entrance examination for using AI smart glasses to cheat, along with two others for making untruthful statements in their curriculum vitae. The three applicants were given null scores, Taiwan’s highest-ranked university said, calling on prospective students to be honest in the admissions process. NTU registrar Lee Hung-sen (李宏森) said that the cheating applicant wore a hat and thick-rimmed glasses to the second written exam for medical school, claiming that they felt cold. Suspicions were aroused when the applicant stared oddly at the test for long stretches while steadily bringing the paper
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
Heavy rain is expected to affect parts of Taiwan this week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday as a meteorologist said the active part of the annual plum rain season has started. A stationary plum rain front and southwesterly winds would bring unstable weather and abundant moisture to Taiwan from today for about a week, with the heaviest rainfall forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday, the CWA said. The agency said western and northeastern Taiwan, and mountainous areas in the east and southeast, could expect showers or thunderstorms on those two days, with localized heavy rain possible. Other parts of
RSS