The Nikkei average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange has begun to take a downward path. Market participants, in particular foreign investors, are becoming cautious.
While investors were earlier buying shares as they tried to assess the prospects of the economy bottoming out and heading for a recovery, there is a growing mood that they cannot expect growth in capital investments in light of recent statistics on corporate activity and machinery orders.
There are few signs that consumer spending is on the rise, and some experts point out that, on the contrary, the level of spending per consumer is continuing to fall.