Tokyo , Jakarta  - Powerful earthquakes hit northern Japan and eastern Indonesia Thursday, prompting tsunami warnings in two of the world's most seismically active countries.

A magnitude-7 quake struck off the Pacific coast of the Japanese island of Hokkaido at 9:21 am (0021 GMT) and generated waves measuring 10 to 20 centimetres that hit the eastern coast of Hokkaido about 40 minutes later, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The agency lifted its tsunami warning a short time later.

Tokyo- Japan's machinery orders fell 3.9 per cent in July in seasonally adjusted terms compared with the previous month, the government said Thursday.

Private-sector machinery orders declined an unadjusted 4.7 per cent from the same month a year before to 1.04 trillion yen (9.72 billion dollars), the Cabinet Office said.

Private-sector machinery orders are regarded as a leading indicator of corporate capital spending about six months ahead, and the second drop in two months indicated that manufacturers expected the global economic slowdown to further dampen demand.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks continued their losing streak Thursday on lingering US credit woes.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 149.74 points, or 1.21 per cent, in morning trading to 12,196.89.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 18.13 points, or 1.5 per cent, at 1,174.25.

Shares were hit after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the fourth-largest US investment bank, which has been hard-hit by the US financial and mortgage crisis, reported a record loss Wednesday of 3.9 billion dollars.

Tokyo - Japan's current account surplus shrank 17.3 per cent to 1.53 trillion yen (14.22 billion dollars) in July, compared with the same month a year before, thanks to expanding imports, the government said Wednesday.

The surplus shrank for the fifth-consecutive month as import growth was led by high prices for fuel, the Finance Ministry said.

The goods and services trade surplus plunged 93.5 per cent to 29.2 billion yen.

The goods trade surplus shrank 69.8 per cent to 232.2 billion yen while the services trade marked a deficit of 203 billion yen, down 35.8 per cent from a year before.

Tokyo - Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average hit a six-month low Wednesday after renewed anxiety over the US financial sector dragged down US shares.

The Nikkei fell in morning trading by 131.11 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 12,269.54. The index ended the previous day's session down 223.81 points.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 7.41 points, or 0.62 per cent, at 1,184.18 after it finished the previous day's trading down 24.82 points.