(Adds more figures)
TOKYO, April 1 (Reuters) - Japanese manufacturers' business sentiment improved slightly in the three months to March, the Bank of Japan's closely watched tankan survey showed, but analysts anticipate a downturn in confidence this quarter following last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis.
The headline index for big manufacturers' sentiment was plus 6 in March, the survey showed on Friday, improving from plus 5 in December and against the median market forecast of plus 7.
But the survey did not fully reflect the impact of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that flattened coastal towns and cities in the country's northeast, killed more than 11,000 and triggered the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years, because the BOJ had collected most firms' responses before the quake.
Details were as follows:
(Median forecasts from Reuters poll of economists in parenthesis.)
March 2011 June 2011 Dec 2010 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturers Large +6 (+7) +2 +5 Medium -4 -8 +1 Small -10 (-11) -16 -12 Non-manufacturers Large +3 (+2) -1 +1 Medium -6 -12 -10 Small -19 (-22) -27 -22 ----------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12
March survey CAPITAL SPENDING All firms -3.7 Large Firms -0.4 (+1.8)
Manufacturers +4.3
Non-manufacturers -2.9 Medium Firms +0.5
Manufacturers +20.9
Non-manufacturers -11.1 Small Firms -24.5 (-17.6)
Manufacturers -8.1
Non-manufacturers -33.9 RECURRING PROFITS All firms +1.8
Large Firms +0.1
Manufacturers +0.6
Non-manufacturers -0.4
Medium Firms +2.0
Manufacturers +2.1
Non-manufacturers +2.0
Small Firms +8.4
Manufacturers +6.5
Non-manufacturers +9.2
DOLLAR ASSUMPTION Large manufacturers 2011/12: 84.20
CORPORATE FINANCE
Financial Position (percentage of firms saying they find financial conditions easy minus those who find conditions are tight)
March Dec ---------------------------------------------------------------- All firms +2 +1 Large +17 +15 Medium +9 +7 Small -8 -9 ----------------------------------------------------------------
Lending Attitude of Financial Institutions (percentage of firms that find banks' lending attitude accommodative minus those who find it severe)
March Dec ---------------------------------------------------------------- All firms +5 +3 Large +14 +12 Medium +9 +8 Small 0 -2 ---------------------------------------------------------------- EMPLOYMENT DIFFUSION INDEX (percentage of firms saying they had excess workers minus those saying they had insufficient workers)
March Dec ---------------------------------------------------------------- All firms +4 +6 Large Firms +4 +6 Manufacturers +5 +8 Non-manufacturers +3 +4 Small Firms +5 +7 Manufacturers +8 +11 Non-manufacturers +3 +4 ---------------------------------------------------------------- PRODUCTION CAPACITY INDEX
(percentage of firms saying they had excess capacity minus those saying they had insufficient capacity)
March Dec ---------------------------------------------------------------- All firms +7 +7 Large Firms +6 +8 Manufacturers +11 +12 Non-manufacturers +2 +2 Small Firms +7 +8 Manufacturers +13 +15 Non-manufacturers +4 +4 ----------------------------------------------------------------
Sentiment indexes measure the percentage of firms reporting a favourable business environment minus those reporting unfavourable conditions. The survey period: Feb. 24 to March 31 The number of companies surveyed: 11,101, of which 2,384 were large firms. To view the BOJ's table on the survey, click on http://www.boj.or.jp/en/statistics/tk/yoshi/tk1103.htm/ (Reporting by Rie Ishiguro; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
TABLE-BOJ tankan: Japan corp mood edges up but quake impact looms
