March manufacturers' sentiment index +6 vs February +3
- Service sector index -5 in March vs -7 in February
- Manufacturers', service sector mood is seen improving ahead
Emergency measures rolled out in Japan to halt the country's third, and most lethal, wave of the virus has curbed consumer spending and hit the services sector particularly hard.
- the Service sector index is seen as rising to +5 in June
Respondents said economic conditions were improving, in part due to solid Chinese demand.
- The sentiment index for manufacturers was expected to rise further to 15 in June
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The Reuters Tankan is a monthly poll that is meant to provide an indication of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) tankan quarterly survey (next one of these is due on April 1).
- 235 out of 482 large- and mid-sized non-financial firms surveyed between March 3 and March 12 responded
The focus this week, of course, is on the BOJ policy meeting, the announcement on Friday, 19 March, will include details on the Bank's policy review. Speculation centres on potential changes to phasing out a numerical target for its asset buying (ETFs).
