Japan core machinery orders rise 8.7% in April

Japan’s core machinery orders rose 8.7 percent in April from the previous month after seasonal adjustment thanks to robust orders related to semiconductors, government data showed on Wednesday.

Core machinery orders totalled $6.84 billion in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Cabinet Office. Analysts had expected a 1.2 percent increase after orders fell 9.4 percent in March.

On an annual basis, core machinery orders rose 15.6 percent in April, compared with analysts’ forecasts for a 9.3 percent increase. Orders had risen 5.9 percent year-on-year in March.

The Cabinet Office expects core machinery orders to increase 0.3 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter and to rise 8.5 percent from a year earlier.