TOKYO, May 29 (Reuters) - Japanese companies are expected to have cut capital spending at a record pace in the first three months of this year as they tried to cope with a dive in global demand.
Following is a poll for a Ministry of Finance corporate
capital spending survey scheduled for release on June 4. For live
updates click
-- Japanese companies have reduced spending on equipment and facilities for the past seven quarters. Business investment fell a record 17.3 percent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier as the global economic crisis gathered momentum.
-- Economists expect corporate capital spending to remain subdued in the near future as companies have turned cautious about expanding production capacity after a plunge in global demand since late last year.
-- But signs of a rebound in exports and industrial output in recent months are fuelling expectations that the economy probably hit a bottom in the first quarter.
-- The data is closely watched as it is used in calculating revised GDP figures due on June 11.
-- Following are forecasts from economists. --------------------------------------------------- Median -26.5 -11.6 High -24.2 -9.2 Low -30.0 -15.2 --------------------------------------------------- JP Morgan -30.0 -15.2 Barclays Capital -30.0 -11.6 Shinkin Central Bank -28.8 n/a Calyon -27.9 -11.5 HSBC Securities -26.5 -11.3 Mizuho Securities -26.0 n/a Daiwa SMBC -25.9 -11.4 Norinchukin -24.2 -12.0 Mitsui Sumitomo AM -24.2 -9.2 RBS n/a -12.8 -------------------------------------------------- (Reporting by Tokyo Economic Policy Desk)