TOKYO : Sentiment of big Japanese manufacturers rose for the first time in four months in December, and the service-sector mood hit a three-year high, a Reuters monthly poll found, in a sign of gradual recovery from COVID-19 doldrums.
The mixed readings underscored the uneven nature of Japan's recovery from the pandemic, as a slowdown in China raises the risk of a global downturn while a possible COVID-19 resurgence in Japan clouds the outlook. The service-sector index rose to +25 from the +20 seen in November. It was the best reading since October 2019, with respondents in the information and communications subsector among the most optimistic.
Since the questions in the survey are much the same as those in the central bank's survey, quarterly moves in the Reuters data give some indication of what will be seen in the next BOJ tankan report, on Dec. 14.