Seasonally adjusted core machinery orders in March rose 13% from the previous month, growing for the second consecutive month, the Cabinet Office said Thursday.
Core orders, or private-sector orders excluding those for ships and machines used by power utilities, a leading indicator of corporate capital investment, totaled ¥1.01 trillion.
The government agency kept its basic assessment unchanged, saying that machinery orders are showing signs of picking up.
Core machinery orders from manufacturers gained 8.0% to ¥459.3 billion, and those from nonmanufacturers grew 9.6% to ¥534 billion.
Large-scale orders from the chemical and telecommunications industries, worth over ¥10 billion, pushed up the overall figure.
Overall machinery orders, including those from the public sector and abroad, fell 9.4% to ¥3.05 trillion.
In fiscal 2024, which ended in March, core machinery orders rose 3.7% from the previous year to ¥10.67 trillion.
For April-June, core orders are projected to shrink 2.1% from the previous quarter, due to a decline in orders from nonmanufacturers.
The impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff measures on machinery orders should be closely watched next month and beyond, a Cabinet Office official said.
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