Tokyo - Japan's key machinery orders marked the first fall in three months in June, the government said Thursday.

Core machinery orders declined 2.6 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in June from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said.

The figure was better than an average market expectation of a 9.9-per-cent fall.

Orders from manufacturers rose a seasonally adjusted 3.9 per cent from May to 512.3 billion yen (4.71 billion dollars), and those from non-manufacturers dropped 3.3 per cent to 603.1 billion yen.

Compared to the same month a year before, orders in June grew by unadjusted 9.7 per cent to 1.09 trillion yen.

In the April-June period, core machinery orders were up 0.6 per cent from the previous quarter.

For the July-September quarter, the Cabinet Office expects key orders to dip 3 per cent. (dpa)