TABLE-Japan big manuf sentiment declines in Oct-Dec

TOKYO, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Big Japanese manufacturers were
less confident about business conditions in the three months to
December compared with the previous quarter, a government survey
showed on Tuesday.

The business survey index (BSI) on sentiment at large
manufacturers in the October-December quarter was plus 5.2,
compared with plus 7.7 in July-September, according to a joint
survey by the Ministry of Finance and the Economic and Social
Research Institute, an arm of the Cabinet Office.

The sentiment index at large non-manufacturers in the quarter
fell to minus 2.2 from plus 5.3 in the previous quarter, while
that at big firms overall was down at plus 0.5 against plus 6.2
in July-September, the survey showed.

Following is a table of main figures (figures in parentheses
are forecasts from the previous survey):
----------------------------------------------------------------
BUSINESS SURVEY INDEX ON SENTIMENT (Measures percentage of firms
that expect the business environment to improve minus percentage
that expect it to worsen)

OCT-DEC JULY-SEPT JAN-MAR APR-JUNE

(prev fcst) f'cast f'cast
----------------------------------------------------------------
All large firms +0.5 (+9.2) 06.2 +2.4 +2.1
Large manufacturers +5.2 (+11.2) +7.7 +1.1 +1.3
Large non-manuf -2.2 (+8.0) +5.3 +3.2 +2.5
All small firms -18.7 (-7.4) -22.3 -18.7 -13.3
Small manufacturers -16.8 (-4.7) -27.2 -19.1 -4.8
Small non-manuf -19.1 (-8.0) -21.3 -18.6 -15.1
----------------------------------------------------------------

2007/08 2007/08
CAPITAL SPENDING OUTLOOK (yr/yr) PCT (prev survey)

All industries -0.4 (+1.5)

Manufacturers +4.7 (+6.3)

Non-manufacturers -4.1 (-1.5)
_______________________________________________________________

Responses were obtained from 11,310 firms, of which 4,488
were large firms with capital of more than 1 billion yen ($8.75
million) and 2,619 were medium-sized firms capitalised at 100
million yen to 1 billion yen.

The rest were smaller firms capitalised at 10-100
million yen.

For the full tables, click here
(Reporting by Yuzo Saeki)