Business confidence among major Japanese manufacturers in June improved to the highest level in eight years, as robust demand related to chips and artificial intelligence offset risks posed by the Middle East conflict, the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey showed Wednesday.The sentiment index measuring confidence among companies such as those in the auto and electronics sectors rose to 22 from 17 in March for the fifth straight quarterly increase, beating the average market forecast of 16 in a Kyodo News tally.But the index is projected to decline to 17 in September. The BOJ survey of 9,141 com…READ FULL ARTICLE
