RTTNews reports that the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan Survey on business sentiment showed that large manufacturing in Japan posted some improvement in the fourth quarter of 2020 - diffusion index climbs to -10. That beat forecasts for a reading of -15 as expectations were very soft because of the global Covid-19 pandemic. But it was up from a score of -27 three months ago.

The outlook came in at -8, again beating expectations for -11 and up from -17 in the previous quarter.

The large non-manufacturers index came in at -5, beating forecasts for -6 and up from -12. The outlook came in at -6, also topping forecasts for -7 and up from -11 in the three months prior.

Large all industry capex is now seen lower by 1.2 percent, missing expectations for a fall of 0.1 percent and down from 1.4 percent in the previous three months.

The index for business conditions came in at -10 for large enterprises, -17 for medium and -27 for small.