Japan's core private-sector machinery orders rose a seasonally adjusted 4.9 percent in February from the previous month to 1.01 trillion yen, for the first rise in three months.
The Cabinet Office said Friday that the figure represents an unadjusted 7.2 percent expansion from a year earlier. Semiconductor-manufacturing equipment and computers are main items that contributed to the rise in February.
The result rekindled hope that core machinery orders might post growth in the January-March period for the second straight quarter.