Japan's core private-sector machinery orders gained a seasonally adjusted 5 percent in February, recouping part of January's 11.8 percent month-on-month decline thanks to a number of large orders, the Cabinet Office said Monday.

Orders from manufacturers fell, however, due mainly to a continued tumble in demand from electric machinery makers for semiconductor-manufacturing devices, said Yoshihiko Senoo, a senior official at the Cabinet Office's Economic and Social Research Institute.

The government is thus sticking to its view that machinery orders, a leading indicator of corporate capital spending six to nine months ahead, are following a seesaw pattern. Last month, the Cabinet Office downgraded its assessment for machinery orders for the first time in five months.