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TOKYO, May 18 Japan's core machinery orders
increased 2.9 percent in March from the previous month, rising
for the first time in two months, the Cabinet Office said on
Monday, in a sign of a pick-up in business investment.
The rise in core orders, a highly volatile data series
regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six
to nine months, compared with the median estimate of a 1.8
percent increase in a Reuters poll of economists.
It followed a revised 1.4 percent drop in February.
Companies surveyed by the Cabinet Office forecast that core
orders, which exclude those of ships and electric power
utilities, will fall 7.4 percent in the current quarter.
In January-March, core orders rose 6.3 percent from the
prior three months.
Compared with a year earlier, core orders in March rose 2.6
percent, versus a 7.2 percent decline forecast by economists.
To view full table, go to the Cabinet Office website:
here
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Chris Gallagher)