TOKYO -- Business sentiment among Japan's large manufacturers has dropped for the first time in a year, hinting at the impact from shutdowns of car plants in the past few months as automakers confessed to quality irregularities.
In the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey published Monday, the headline diffusion index (DI) among large manufacturers was at plus 11 for the January-to-March quarter, compared with plus 13 in the October-to-December quarter. This compares with a median forecast of plus 10 in a Quick survey of economists.
