year to date.
The broad-based TOPIX and TOPIX Small Indexes posted better gains, but their year-to-date performance remained more
significantly in negative territory, down 8.0% and 10.4%, respectively.
At the close of Japan’s trading session on Friday, the yen stood at ¥113.79 per U.S. dollar, slightly lower for the week but
modestly higher for the year to date.
September 30 marked midyear for Japanese companies’ 2019 fiscal year, which ends in March 2019, recent report shows
that about half of the companies in the TOPIX Index have reported their results, net earnings for the 708 companies that
have reported were up 8% year over year.
The Reuters Tankan poll showed manufacturers’ business confidence declining in November and sentiment is expected to
deteriorate further in the coming three months.
Reuters monthly business sentiment index, which closely tracks the Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan index, declined to 26
in November from 28 in October.
Weakest segments included precision machinery and chemical manufacturers, managers surveyed cited higher raw
materials costs and natural disasters in the June quarter.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet Office reported that Japan’s coincident economic indicators declined in September for the first
time since May 2015.
Government data which measure the health of industrial output, employment and retail sales, suggest that Japan’s
economy is stalling.
The leading index—a forward-looking economic measure—also fell, slower exports were cited as the major reason for the
economic slowdown.
Consensus of economists recently polled by Reuters is that Japan’s economy is likely to contract in the September quarter,
reversing course again after posting strong growth in the June quarter that followed a contraction in the first quarter of the
year.
