Japan manufacturers index +20 in February (from +18 in January)

  • highest since August 2014
  • Up for 6 straight months
  • led by steel/nonferrous metals, chemicals and electric machinery

Non-manufacturers index +26 in February vs +30 in January

  • First fall in 4 month
  • dragged down by retailers and wholesalers
  • Manufacturers May index seen at +19, non-manufacturers +26

More from Reuters:

  • "The yen's weakening since Trump's election has brightened business sentiment. But what he says and does could make companies cautious about the future" a manager at a electric machinery firm wrote in the survey, which companies answer anonymously
  • The manager said Trump may turn up the heat against a weak yen and Japanese car exporters, although the president held off from criticising Japan's trade surplus with the United States during a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week

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Reuters' monthly Tankan poll tracks the Bank of Japan's key quarterly tanka

  • poll of 531 large- and mid-sized firms
  • conducted between Jan. 31 and Feb. 14
  • 255 responded