Japan business mood turns pessimistic - BOJ tankan

TOKYO (Dec 15): Big Japanese manufacturers turned pessimistic about
business conditions in the fourth quarter, a closely watched Bank of
Japan survey showed on Thursday, with confidence hurt by Europe's debt
crisis, a strong yen and slowing global growth.

The headline index for big manufacturers' sentiment was minus 4 in
December, down from plus 2 in September and lower than the median market
forecast for minus 2, the central bank's quarterly tankan survey
showed.

Big manufacturers expect conditions to worsen further over the next
three months, with the index for March seen at minus 5 compared with a
median forecast of minus 3.

The survey also showed big firms plan to increase their capital
spending by 1.4 percent in the financial year to March 2012, less than
the median forecast for a 2.5 percent rise, the survey showed.

The sentiment indexes are derived by subtracting the percentage of
respondents who say conditions are poor from those who say they are
good. A negative reading means pessimists outnumbered optimists. -
Reuters