— Japan Mar Machine Orders -2.8% M/M; MNI Median F’cast -3.2%
— Japan Q1 Machine Orders +0.9% Q/Q, 1st Rise in 2 Qtrs
— Japan Q2 Machine Orders Seen +2.5% Q/Q
— Japan Mar Core Machine Orders Post 1st Fall in 3 Mths
— Japan Govt Keeps View: Machine Orders Rising Gradually
— Japan Mar Core Machinery Orders -1.1% Y/Y Vs Feb +8.9%
— Japan Mar Machine Orders From Overseas -14.4% M/M; Feb -13.4%
TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s core private-sector machinery orders fell in
March after being pushed up by temporary large orders in February but
they are expected to maintain a modest uptrend amid solid domestic
demand, data from the Cabinet Office showed on Wednesday.
Core orders — which exclude volatile demand from electric
utilities and for ships and are viewed as a leading indicator of
corporate capital investment — fell 2.8% on the month in March, marking
the first drop in three months after +2.8% in February.
The March figure came in slightly better than the median forecast
in an MNI survey of economists for a 3.2% fall.
The Cabinet Office maintained its assessment, saying that
“machinery orders are rising gradually.”
Core machinery orders rose 0.9% in January-March from the previous
quarter, below the government’s initial forecast for a 2.3% rise, while
marking the first rise in two quarters following a revised fall of 0.7%
in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Looking ahead, core orders are orders are projected to rise by
a further 2.5% in the current quarter ending in June, backed by demand
for rebuilding the areas hit by the 2011 earthquake disaster.
Japanese carmakers have raised their production capacity after the
government resumed subsidies for buying low-emission vehicles in
December.
From a year earlier, core private machinery orders fell 1.1% in
March following a 8.9% rise in February.
Offshore orders, which are not part of core orders, tumbled 14.4%
from the previous month in March, marking a second straight fall after a
13.4% drop in the previous month.
tokyo@marketnews.com
** MNI Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **
[TOPICS: M$J$$$,M$A$$$,MAJDS$,MT$$$$]
