July core machinery orders up 8%

September 11, 2017

TOKYO- Japan's seasonally adjusted core machinery orders in July rose 8 percent from the previous month, marking the first increase in four months, mainly thanks to train car orders, the Cabinet Office said Monday.

Private-sector orders excluding those for ships and power equipment, closely watched as a leading indicator of corporate capital spending, came to 853.3 billion yen, the government agency said.

The July growth, which followed a drop of 1.9 percent in June, topped the most bullish forecast of a 7 percent rise in a Jiji Press survey of 20 economic research institutes. The median of their estimates was for a 4.4 percent rise.

The core machinery orders logged the largest gain since January 2016, when the growth reached 11.5 percent.

But the Cabinet Office kept unchanged its view that machinery orders have stalled.

Core machinery orders "increased sharply, but it was a move in a single month," an official said. "We'll watch future movements." Jiji Press