Core machine orders in Japan were up 2.9 percent on month in March, the Cabinet Office said on Monday – worth 869.4 billion yen.
The headline figure beat forecasts for an increase of 1.5 percent following the downwardly revised 1.4 percent decline in February) originally -0.4 percent).
On a yearly basis, core machine orders added 2.6 percent – also topping expectations for a decline of 6.0 percent following the 5.9 percent gain in the previous month.
The total number of machinery orders, including those volatile ones for ships and from electric power companies, climbed 1.8 percent on month and 7.8 percent on year to 2.492 trillion yen.
Manufacturing orders added 0.3 percent on month but slid 0.1 percent on year to 363.8 billion yen in March, while non-manufacturing orders gained 4.7 percent on month and 3.6 percent on year to 497.8 billion yen.
Government orders tumbled 19.3 percent on month and 0.2 percent on year to 219.6 billion yen. Orders from overseas dropped 13.5 percent on month and 1.3 percent on year to 922.5 billion yen. Orders from agencies shed 8.2 percent on month but gained 7.7 percent on year to 95.0 billion yen.
For the first quarter of 2015, core machine orders expanded 6.3 percent on quarter and 3.3 percent on year to 2,571.3 billion yen.
The total number of machinery orders, including those volatile ones for ships and from electric power companies, climbed 12.0 percent on quarter and 8.7 percent on year to 7,357.0 billion yen.
For the second quarter of 2015, core machine orders are forecast to have fallen 7.4 percent on quarter and 1.7 percent on year.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com