— Japan Jan Machine Orders +3.4% M/M; MNI Median F’cast +1.6%
— Japan Jan Core Machine Orders Post 1st M/M Rise in 2 Months
— Japan Govt Repeats View: Machine Orders Are Fluctuating
— Japan Jan Core Machinery Orders +5.7% Y/Y Vs Dec +6.3%
— Japan Jan Machine Orders From Overseas +20.1% M/M; Dec +5.6%
TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s core private-sector machinery orders
rebounded at a faster-than-expected pace in January, backed by solid
domestic demand amid easing fears of a global slump, but they are not
yet on a recovery track, data from the Cabinet Office showed on Monday.
Core orders — which exclude volatile demand from electric
utilities and for ships and are viewed as a leading indicator of
corporate capital investment — increased 3.4% on the month in January,
the first rise in two month after falling 7.1% in December.
The January figure came in higher than the median forecast in a
Market News International survey of economists for a 1.6% gain.
The increase was led by orders for electricity machinery as well as
those from automobiles and other transport equipment including aircraft
and trains.
Japanese carmakers are seeking to raise capacity after the
government resumed subsidies for buying low-emission vehicles in
December.
Among the non-manufacturing sector, orders from telecommunications
showed a sharp rebound, thanks to carriers expanding networks for smart
phones.
With the global gloom easing and the yen falling back to 11-month
lows, core orders are forecast to rise 2.3% in the January-March
quarter, the first rise in two quarters, according to the government’s
projection released last month.
In another sign for a gradual recovery, Japan’s industrial output
rose an above-forecast 2.0% in January as car and electronics makers
continued playing catchup following last year’s supply chain breakdown
in flood-hit Thailand, the latest data have shown.
But the Cabinet Office maintained its recent assessment, saying,
“Machinery orders are fluctuating, taking one step forward and one step
back.”
From a year earlier, core private machinery orders rose 5.7% in
January following a 6.3% rise in December.
Offshore orders, which are not part of core orders, surged 20.1%
from the previous month in January on large orders for chemical plant
machinery, marking the fourth straight monthly gain after a 5.6% rise in
December.
tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **
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