Confidence among Japan’s small and medium-sized enterprises increased in July to reach its highest level in four months, survey figures released by the Shoko Chukin Bank showed Wednesday.
Th small business confidence index rose by 2.4 percentage points to 49.3 in July from 46.9 in the previous month. In May, the score was 48.1.
The latest reading was the strongest since March this year, when it marked 49.8.
The confidence index for the manufacturing sector climbed further to 48.8 in July from 45.8 in June. Similarly, the index measuring confidence in the non-manufacturing sector rose to 49.7 from 47.7 in the prior month, marking its first spike in two months.
The overall business confidence index for August is forecast to fall to 49.1. The survey participants expect the manufacturing confidence to drop to 47.3, while non-manufacturing confidence to improve to 50.5.
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