Japan's core private-sector machinery orders rose a seasonally adjusted 6.7% in December from the previous month, the government said Thursday, boosting hopes for a continued recovery in the manufacturing sector, Japan's News Agency (Kyodo) reported. 
The orders, which exclude those for ships and from utilities because of their volatility, totaled 889.8 billion yen about ($7.9 billion) in the reporting month. The figure fell 5.15 in November. 
The Cabinet Office retained in its basic assessment that machinery orders, which are widely viewed as an indicator of future capital spending by companies, had been picking up but have now tapered off.