Japan's core private-sector machinery orders declined a seasonally adjusted 4.3 percent in July from the previous month to 1.013 trillion, yen after surging 11.1 percent in June to their highest level in five years, the government said Thursday.
The July figure represents an unadjusted 10.0 percent growth from a year earlier, the Cabinet Office said.
The 4.3 percent month-on-month drop in core orders, which exclude highly volatile orders for ships and those placed by electric power companies, was better than the average market projection of a 5.7 percent slip.
Despite the fall in July, the office left its basic assessment of core machinery orders unchanged, saying they are "marking a gradual increase."
In the June report, it had revised the assessment upward from describing the trend of orders as "flat."
When monthly data are averaged, July's figure does is not dip below the average line, a Cabinet Office official said.
To meet the initial government projection of a 0.9 percent July-September rise, core machinery orders will need to post 0.6 percent growth in August and September.