Japan Core Machinary Order : July~Yen 664.7 b

Sep 9, 8:23 PM EDT
Japan July core machinery orders down 9.3 percent

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's core machinery orders, a closely watched indicator of corporate capital spending, fell back in July after a rise in the previous month, the government said Thursday.

Core private sector machinery orders in July plunged 9.3 percent from a month earlier to 664.7 billion yen ($7.3 billion), according to the Cabinet Office report. The figure excludes often-volatile orders from shipbuilders and electric power companies.

Declines in orders at steelmakers and transport equipment companies contributed to the fall.

The result marked a major downturn from a 9.7 percent jump recorded in June - the first increase in four months - and was a bigger decline than the 3.6 percent fall forecast in a Kyodo news agency market survey.

In the April-June quarter, core machinery orders fell 4.9 percent from the previous quarter. The government expects the figure to tumble 8.6 percent in the July-September period.

© 2009 The Associated Press.
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