The Cabinet Office said that core Machine orders in Japan plummeted a seasonally adjusted 14.8% MoM in May 2012, coming in at JPY 671.9 billion.

That was well shy of forecasts for a contraction of 2.6% on month following the 5.7% increase in April 2012.

On a yearly basis, core machine orders added 1%, also sharply below estimates for a rise of 7% following the 6.6% increase in the previous month.

The total number of machinery orders, including those volatile ones for ships and from electric power companies, saw a decline of 14.5% MoM and 6.8% YoY in May 2012.

Source - RTT News

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