Japan machinery orders down 6.9pc in October

TOKYO: Japan's core private-sector machinery orders, a leading indicator of corporate capital spending, fell 6.9 percent in October from the previous month, official data showed Thursday.

The core data, which exclude volatile demand from power companies and for ships, was worse than the market expectation of a small rise.

Economists had expected core orders would rise 0.1 percent in October in a survey by Dow Jones and the Nikkei business daily.

The drop followed an 8.2 percent fall in September.