Japan's core machinery orders decreased a seasonally adjusted 4.5 percent in February from the previous month, the first drop in three months, government data showed on Wednesday.
The private-sector orders, excluding orders for ships and from utilities because of their volatility, stood at 888 billion yen (6.63 billion U.S. dollars), down from 929.6 billion yen in January, said the Cabinet Office.
Regarded as a leading indicator of capital spending in the coming two to three quarters, the core-order figure, rose 9.8 percent year on year, the data showed, well below market expectations.
Orders from manufacturers increased 10.2 percent to 433.3 billion yen while those from non-manufacturers excluding volatile orders lost 14.7 percent to stand at 460.6 billion yen.
In a breakdown of industries in Japan's private sector, those of construction, shipbuilding and paper production saw the most order declines, while sectors of non-ferrous metals, real estate as well as finance and insurance led the advance, the data showed.
The total value of machinery orders received by 280 manufacturers operating in Japan decreased by 0.8% in February from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Cabinet Office added. (One U.S. dollar equals 133.79 yen)
Source: Xinhua Finance Agency