Japan's core machinery orders fell more than expected in July, as manufacturers in the world's third-largest economy balk at new investments in the face of sluggish global growth and weakness in major market China.
Cabinet Office data released on Thursday comes on top of several other indicators over recent weeks that have raised the challenge for Japanese policymakers confronting soft demand overseas and at home.
Core orders, the leading indicator of Japanese business spending, were down 1.1% in July from the previous month, the data showed. The decline was bigger than a 0.9% drop expected by economists in a Reuters poll and followed a 2.7% gain in June.