5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo - Japan’s machinery orders decline 12.9% in February and current account surplus rose 2.9%.

Stocks in Japan declined on a government report that showed that machinery orders fell in February and worsening earnings outlook.

Market sentiment

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 fell 1.27% or 166.59 at 12,945.30, and the broader Topix Index declined 1.2% or 14.83 at 1,248.07.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 9 billion shares worth 966 billion yen were traded and in the second section 171 million shares valued at 2.1 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 42 gained, 178 declined and 5 were unchanged. Shionogi & Co Ltd led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 3.37% followed by Yahoo Japan Corp gaining 2.79%.

Machinery orders drops 12.9% in February

Japan’s Cabinet Office reported yesterday that the total value of machinery orders received by 280 manufacturers operating in Japan fell by 12.9% at 2.7 trillion yen in February from January on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Total orders in the quarter to March rose 10.2% at 8.7 trillion yen from a gain of 2.5% or 7.9 trillion in the quarter ending in December.

Private-sector machinery orders, excluding volatile ones for ships and those from electric power companies, fell a seasonally adjusted by 12.7% worth 1 trillion yen in February. However privates sector orders in the three months through March advanced 3.5% at 3.2 trillion yen from 0.9% or 3.1 trillion yen in the quarter to December.

Also orders for manufacturing companies dropped 13.2% at 466 billion in February from a gain of 13.8% or 537 billion yen in the previous month. Orders however increased 1.8% or 1.53 trillion yen in the three months to March from 6.8% or 1.5 trillion yen in the previous quarter.

Non-manufacturing orders slipped 13.3% at 591 billion yen in the month under review from a gain of 25.9% or 682 billion yen in January. For the sector, orders in the quarter to March advanced 3.1% at 1.71 trillion yen from a drop of 2.7% or 1.66 trillion in the previous quarter.

Government orders in February spiked 23.1% or 271 billion yen from 220 billion yen the previous month, while orders for the quarter to March increased 17.9% at 3.9 trillion yen from 1.3% or 3.3 trillion yen.

In addition, overseas orders declined 14.5% at 1.2 trillion yen in the month under review from a rise of 43.1% or 1.4 trillion yen. Conversely, orders in the quarter to March increased 17.9% or 3.9 trillion yen from a rise of 1.3% or 3.3 trillion yen.

Japan’s surplus rises 2.9% in February

The Ministry of Finance reported today that Japan’s current account surplus widened for the second consecutive month in February, rising 2.9% from a year earlier to 2.46 trillion yen.

Balance of trade in goods and services posted a surplus fell 13.8% on the year to 883.3 billion yen from a deficit of 116.4 billion yen in January.

Surplus in merchandise trade declined for the fourth straight month by 6.6% to 1.03 trillion yen, down for the fourth straight month, as import growth outpaced export growth due to higher crude oil prices.

Also exports increased 9% to 6.66 trillion yen, with shipments to the United States falling 6% as a result of the credit market turmoil.

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