Large companies with a positive business sentiment in the January-March quarter outnumbered their negative counterparts, but the employment outlook remained negative, according to a Finance Ministry survey released Thursday.
The seasonally adjusted business sentiment index for companies capitalized at 1 billion yen or more edged down to 5.1 from 5.3 in the October-December quarter.
But a ministry official said the decrease was a reflection of a sharp improvement in the last quarter, which drove the index into the plus column for the first time in 11 quarters.