TOKYO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Japan's core private-sector machinery orders, a key gauge of corporate capital spending, fell 1.7 percent in December from the previous month, government data showed on Monday.
That compared with a median market forecast for an 8.8 percent decrease, and with a record drop of 16.2 percent marked in November.
Manufacturers surveyed by the Cabinet Office forecast that core orders, a highly volatile series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, would rise 4.1 percent in January-March from the previous quarter.
In October-December core orders, which exclude those for ships and machinery at electric power firms, fell 16.7 percent from the previous three months, marking the sharpest quarter-on-quarter fall on record.
With global demand shrinking amid the financial crisis, December orders fell 26.8 percent from a year earlier, against a median forecast for a 32.8 percent decline.
The global economic downturn since late last year has slammed Japanese exports and production of cars and electronics, and the economy appears to be going through its longest recession in modern times. (Reporting by Leika Kihara)