Business

Updated: 11 Apr 2009 19:04:14 PST

TOKYO, April 9 – Japan’s core private-sector machinery orders unexpectedly rose 1.4 percent in February from the previous month, data showed on Thursday, a rare positive sign as the country suffers its worst recession since World War Two.

It was the first rise in five months and compared with a median market forecast for a 6.7 percent fall.]

With companies forced to slash production in the face of dwindling exports, core orders, a leading indicator of corporate capital spending that tends to be volatile, fell 30.1 percent from a year earlier.