Turning to Japan now, where the biggest manufacturers expect conditions to worsen significantly in the three months ahead.

You might recall last week, we brought you the results of the BOJ's tankan survey, a closely watched barometer of corporate sentiment in the country. However, most responses were recorded before the earthquake and tsunami.

So in order to obtain a clearer picture of how firms perceived the effects of the devastation, the BOJ has now separated figures for March, into responses obtained before and after the March 11 earthquake.

Figures show the post-quake index for big manufacturers' sentiment was plus 6 for March, unchanged from the full survey. But looking ahead, the index for June indicates pessimism from big manufactures.

The revised tankan provides the first data to quantify the economic and corporate impact of the disaster. But this too is just an indication - the BOJ explains the post-quake survey only takes into account the views of just over 20 percent of respondents.

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