Highlighted points from the results of the monthly Reuters Corporate Survey

67 % of Japanese firms expect the BOJ's next move to be tightening

  • 33% see further easing

27% of japan firms expect BOJ to change policy this year

  • 34% see it moving in 2019
  • 38% say BOJ action to occur in 2020 or later

74% of firms agree BOJ needs to exit from easy policy, 26% disapprove of such action

62% of firms say sales tax should rise to 10% as planned in 2019

  • 63% also say fiscal spending will be needed to ease tax-hike pain

57% of Japanese manufacturers face profit squeeze from yen's rise to 105 yen,

  • only 18% of non-manufacturers see profit decline from yen's gain

Masaki Kuwahara, senior economist at Nomura Securities, who reviewed the survey results.

  • "Taken together, Japanese firms can cope with the yen's rises as long as the move is gradual to around 105 yen. The impact should be limited, unless it accelerates beyond 100 yen,"
  • "I was a bit surprised that 38 percent of companies saw no BOJ action by 2020 or beyond. This shows how companies are unconvinced about sustainability of the economy's momentum,"
  • "They want the BOJ to go slow in tightening policy or even hope for further easing if necessary."

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Yen up a few tics. Japan returns from a Wednesday holiday today.

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  • monthly poll
  • conducted March 1-15
  • on behalf of Reuters by Nikkei Research
  • polled 542 big and medium-sized firms
  • managers responding on condition of anonymity