Japanese companies pessimistic on business outlook in East Asia:

Japanese companies pessimistic on business outlook in East Asia: survey Agence France-Presse Tokyo

The business outlook among Japanese companies that have advanced into the rest of Asia has worsened due to the SARS outbreak, a government-run trade institute said in a survey on Tuesday.

Forward-looking indices showing business sentiment for the next two to three months came in at plus 9.0 for Thailand, while indicating minus 4.8 to minus 42.7 for all 11 other areas, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) said.

The indices measure differences between firms saying the business climate is favorable and those saying it is unfavorable.

SARS is weighing heavily on business sentiment, JETRO's Asia and Oceania division head Naoyoshi Noguchi said, with the forward index standing at a deeply negative 42.7 for northern China.

"The impact of SARS should have been more clearly seen in April and May... but companies' drive to pile up inventories in case of a production halt in the future has made the current situation look better than two-to-three months ahead," he said.

The current indices are mixed, having improved in Northeast China and South China but worsened in Taiwan although remaining in positive territory.

Business sentiment turned negative for north China for the first time since October 2002 when JETRO began releasing survey data on this area, coming in at a minus 8.6.

JETRO compiled the survey based on replies from 2,025 companies from May 8 to May 14.