The report released by the Cabinet Office on Thursday showed Japan's core machinery orders unexpectedly declined in June.

According to the report, core machinery orders, an indicator of capital expenditures in the coming six to nine months, decreased at a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent m-o-m in June, following a 3.6 percent m-o-m drop in May, while economists expected a 3.7 percent m-o-m increase. That marked the third straight month of decline in machinery orders.

The major contributors to the June fall were lower manufacturing orders, (-5.4 percent m-o-m), while non-manufacturing orders (+0.8 percent m-o-m) rose slightly.

In y-o-y terms, core orders, which excludes those of ships and electricity, fell 5.5 percent in June, versus a 0.6 percent y-o-y gain recorded in May and a 1 percent y-o-y increase projected by the economists.

For the second quarter, core orders fell 4.7 percent q-o-q, recording the biggest quarterly decline in a year. The first quarter had a 1.4 percent q-o-q decline.