Japan's economic recovery looking assured

TOKYO: Orders for Japanese machinery rose more than twice the pace economists estimated in September, signaling that a recovery in the world's second-largest economy may be sustained.

Orders, an indicator of business investment in three to six months, climbed 10.5 percent from a month earlier, the Cabinet Office said yesterday in Tokyo. The median estimate of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 4.1 percent increase.

The yen gained and stocks rose, led by machinery makers Fanuc Ltd and Kubota Corp, after the report showed businesses are becoming more willing to invest in equipment as profits recover. Companies from Toshiba Corp to Elpida Memory Inc have announced plans to build factories or increase capacity in the past month after beating their own earnings estimates.