TOKYO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Sentiment among Japanese manufacturers improved to its least gloomy since July 2019 in January, while that of service-sector firms worsened, as businesses remained hampered by COVID-19 disruptions, the Reuters Tankan survey showed on Monday.

The Reuters Tankan index readings are derived by subtracting the percentage of respondents who say conditions are poor from those who say they are good. A negative reading means that pessimists outnumber optimists.

Following is a table of indexes for key sectors and a comparison with the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey:

2021 2020

APR (f'cast) JAN DEC NOV OCT SEP AUG =============================================================== MANUFACTURERS (-2) -1 -9 -13 -26 -29 -33 --------------------------------------------------------------- (Materials) (-10) -14 -20 -19 -40 -40 -36 - Textiles/paper (-38) -46 -36 -33 -64 -45 -42 - Chemicals (+29) +19 0 -5 -19 -25 -34 - Oil refinery/ceramics (-13) 0 -14 0 -14 -25 -14 - Steel/nonferrous metals (-45) -45 -50 -45 -78 -73 -57 (Manufactured products) (+2) +7 -2 -10 -19 -23 -35 - Food (+9) +18 +18 -9 0 0 -10 - Metal products/machinery (+14) +7 -22 -4 -13 -22 -32 - Electric machinery (-5) +5 0 -5 -14 -9 -22 - Autos/transport equipment(-14) +15 +23 -17 -23 -36 -64 - Precision machinery/others (0) -6 -14 -22 -50 -47 -36 =============================================================== NON-MANUFACTURERS (-9) -11 -4 -13 -16 -18 -23 --------------------------------------------------------------- - Real estate/construction (+4) -8 0 -8 -8 -12 -13 - Retail/wholesale (-23) -15 -5 -17 -25 -22 -19 - Wholesalers (-27) -27 -19 -33 -40 -47 -50 - Retailers (-19) 0 +12 0 -6 +6 +17 - Information/communications(+45) +36 +36 +27 +42 +38 +45 - Transport/utility (-10) -20 -6 -11 -26 -21 -44 - Other services (-29) -29 -27 -34 -36 -52 -54 ===============================================================

*** COMPARISON WITH BANK OF JAPAN TANKAN *** ===============================================================

MANUFACTURERS NON-MANUFACTURERS

RTRS BOJ RTRS BOJ --------------------------------------------------------------- APR 2021 (forecast) (-2) (-8) (-9) (-6) MAR - - - - FEB - - - - JAN -1 - -11 - DEC 2020 -9 -10 -4 -5 NOV -13 - -13 - OCT -26 - -16 - SEP -29 -27 -18 -12 AUG -33 - -23 - JULY -44 - -26 - JUNE -46 -34 -32 -17 MAY -44 - -36 - APRIL -30 - -23 - MARCH -20 -8 -10 +8 FEB -5 - +15 - JAN -6 - +14 - DEC 2019 -6 0 +14 +20 NOV -9 - +12 - OCT -5 - +25 - SEP -7 +5 +19 +21 AUG -4 - +13 - JULY +3 - +25 - JUNE +6 +7 +22 +23 MAY +12 - +27 - APRIL +8 - +24 - MARCH +10 +12 +22 +21 FEB +13 - +22 - JAN +18 - +31 - DEC 2018 +23 +19 +31 +24 NOV +26 - +30 - OCT +28 - +24 - SEPT +26 +19 +33 +22 AUG +30 - +25 - JULY +25 - +34 - JUNE +26 +21 +35 +24 MAY +22 - +39 - APRIL +21 - +36 - MARCH +28 +24 +35 +23 FEB +29 - +33 - JAN +35 - +33 - ---------------------------------------------------------------- (Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by William Mallard)