Mixed messages reflect both the gloom and glee in Japan market

JAPAN

In last couple of months, messages from Japan have been decidedly mixed.

On the one hand, tumbling share prices have been reflecting growing global gloom, as investors fret about European indebtedness and Chinese tightening. On the other, Japanese companies have been reporting rapidly filling order books and a surprisingly rosy outlook. The Bank of Japan’s latest quarterly Tankan survey confirms this, with large Japanese manufacturers in their most optimistic mood for two years. That said, the latest indications from some companies are that order growth is starting to slow. But this has to be set against a market that has fallen some 17% from its peak in Apri...