 Japan's economic recovery is closely tied into US demand for goods |
Japanese business confidence is now mixed, following the recent global markets turmoil, the respected tankan survey has shown. The quarterly Bank of Japan survey of 10,000 firms showed that the sentiment index for large manufacturers was unchanged at 23 in September from June.
Yet, the index for non-manufacturers fell to 20 from 22 in the June survey.
The figures supported the view that the Bank of Japan will raise rates slowly, but most likely not this year.
Japan's main stock index, the Nikkei 225, initially rose following the publication of the report, before swinging back into losses.
US data
Hiroyuki Fukunaga, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities, said investors had locked in profits after the slightly better-than-expected tankan results, despite fears of a slowdown in the US, Japan's main export market.
This sparked some buying in the morning session.
But analysts said investors will remain nervous ahead of a batch of US economic data out this week, including unemployment figures for September, to gauge a fuller picture of the affect of the US home loans crisis.
Meanwhile, the downbeat results from non-manufacturers and small firms showed that Japan's economy is still being driven by exports with private consumption still weak.
One-Minute World News 
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