– The Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey revealed on Friday that sentiment for its large manufacturers’ index plunged in the second quarter, showing a score of -9.

Continuing to reflect the damage from the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, that score was even worse than forecasts for a reading of -7 after coming in at +6 in the first quarter.

The outlook for the third quarter was +2, unchanged from the previous three months and in line with expectations.

The business sentiment index for large auto makers plunged to a record -52 after showing +23 in the previous quarter – although they are expected to rebound to +6 in the third quarter, according to the outlook.

The non-manufacturing index fell to -5, missing forecasts for a score of -4 after posting a score of +3 in Q1. The outlook for the third quarter was -2 versus expectations for a 0 after showing -1 in the previous three months.

All industry capex was a bright spot, expected to rise 4.2 percent on year – well above forecasts for an increase of 2.3 percent after easing 0.4 percent in the first quarter.

The indices are calculated by deducting the percentage of respondents who say conditions are bad from those who say they are good. Negative readings mean pessimists outnumber optimists.

Also on Friday:

• Core consumer prices in Japan were up 0.6 percent on year in May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said – unchanged from the previous month but higher than forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent. On month, core inflation was up 0.1 percent after adding 0.4 percent in April.

Overall CPI was up 0.3 percent on year, unchanged from April but above expectations for a rise of 0.2 percent. On month, inflation added 0.1 percent after rising 0.3 percent in April.

Inflation in Tokyo – considered a leading indicator for the nationwide trend – was down 0.2 percent on year in June versus forecasts for a fall of 0.1 percent, which would have been unchanged from May’s reading. CPI was down 0.1 percent on month.

Tokyo’s core inflation added 0.1 percent on year, unchanged from the May reading but below expectations for a rise of 0.3 percent. Core CPI was down 0.2 percent on month.

• The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.5 percent in May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said – lower than expectations for a rate of 4.8 percent after showing 4.7 percent in April.

The number of unemployed persons in May was 2.93 million, a decrease of 380 thousand or 11.5 percent on year. The number of employed persons was 60.19 million, an increase of 90 thousand or 0.1 percent on year.

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