Tokyo - Japan's core machinery orders inched up 0.6 per cent in October from the previous month for the first rise in two months, the government said Wednesday.
The figure was in line with the prediction by analysts surveyed by the Nikkei business daily and followed a 2.1-per-cent fall in September.
Core private-sector machinery orders, which exclude volatile categories such as ships and utilities, climbed to 807.2 billion yen (7.85 billion dollars), the Cabinet Office said.
The office maintained its basic assessment, saying that machinery orders were “gradually picking up.”
The statistic is seen as an indicator of future corporate capital spending.
Overseas demand, an indicator of future exports, plunged 16 per cent to 883 billion yen. - Sapa-dpa