Japan’s machinery orders drop 8.8pc

Tokyo: Japan’s core machinery orders plunged 8.8 per cent in June from the previous month for the second straight month of decrease, the government said on Thursday.

The figure was steeper than the median forecast of a 1.5 per cent fall by analysts surveyed by the Nikkei Business Daily, and followed a 3.7 per cent decline in May.

Core private-sector machinery orders, which exclude volatile categories such as ships and utilities, dropped to 827.6 billion yen ($7.5 billion), the Cabinet Office said in a statement. The office expects machinery orders to edge down 0.3 per cent in the July-to-September quarter. — dpa