Japan's core machinery orders, a leading indicator of corporate capital spending, logged the biggest fall in more than two years as demand from manufacturing firms shrank, data showed on Oct. 11.
The core orders, which exclude particularly volatile demand from power companies and for ships, fell 10.3% in September from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said.
It was the biggest fall since a 12.3% decrease in March 2008, according to the government office.
The market had expected the core orders data to show a fall following a 10.1% surge in August on strong orders from the metal sector.
Orders from the manufacturing sector tumbled 20.7% in September while orders from non-manufacturers edged up 3$.
Core orders are expected to fall by 9.8% in the October-December quarter, reversing a 9.6% rise in July-September.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
