The performance of the Japanese manufacturing sector continued to improve during June, extending the current sequence of expansion to ten months. Growth was supported by ongoing gains in both production and new orders, although in both cases rates of expansion weakened.

The headline Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' IndexTM (PMI) - a composite singlefigure indicator of manufacturing performance - recorded 52.4 during June. That compared to 53.1 in May and, despite falling on the month, represented another solid rate of sector expansion. Operating conditions have improved continuously since September 2016.