FX.co ★ Japan Core Machine Orders Rise 1.6% In December

The value of core machine orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent on month in December, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday - coming in at 851.9 billion yen.

That was shy of expectations for an increase of 3.0 percent following the 8.3 percent drop in November.

On a yearly basis, core machine orders sank 6.6 percent - also missing forecasts for a decline of 6.0 percent following the 3.7 percent decline in the previous month.

Orders for manufacturing were up 2.1 percent on month and down 13.5 percent on year at 394.1 billion yen, while orders for non-manufacturing fell 2.5 percent on month and 0.1 percent on year at 458.1 billion yen.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, orders were down 5.0 percent on quarter and 3.6 percent on year. For the first quarter of 2023, orders are seen higher by 4.3 percent on quarter and 4.1 percent on year.