Japan Manufacturers’ Mood Sinks In February

As per the latest Reuters Tankan poll, published early Wednesday morning in Asia, “Japanese manufacturers’ business confidence fell to an 11-month low in February as measures to contain the pandemic and high raw material costs hurt sentiment”, while USD/JPY remains sidelined around 115.60, after mildly positive performances in the last two days.

Manufacturers were less optimistic about the three months ahead than they were in January, while service-sector firms’ outlook held up, according to the poll that tracks the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) closely watched “tankan” quarterly survey, per Reuters.

Key quotes
The Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers fell to 6 in February from 17 in January, hitting its lowest since last March.

The service-sector index slipped for the first time in five months, to 3 from the prior month’s 8.

The poll also showed companies continued to confront surging commodity costs, which have started to hurt firms at the lower end of the supply chain such as consumer staples makers and service providers.