TOKYO: Japan's core machinery orders rose by a bigger-than-expected 5.7 percent in April from the previous month, data showed Wednesday in a positive sign for the nation's hard-hit economy.

The core private-sector data, which exclude volatile demand from power companies and for ships, turned up after a 2.8 percent drop in March, according to official data from the Cabinet Office.

The market had expected a rise of 1.5 percent in April.

Machinery orders are seen as a leading indicator of corporate capital spending and watched for movements that may reflect the outlook for the broader economy.

The jump in April was a positive sign for the world's third largest economy, which has been hit hard by last year's quake-tsunami disaster, the export-damaging appreciation of the yen and financial turmoil in Europe, a major market for Japanese products.

Chisaki Masukawa, an economist at the Daiwa Institute of Research, said the figures were generally robust, supported by reconstruction-related demand after the disaster.

"(But) one area of concern is a sharp drop in orders in the auto sector, indicating that firms are cutting back on investment in anticipation of a slowdown in demand after the expiry of a subsidy program for eco-friendly cars in the summer," she said.

Japan's April economic data has been mixed, with industrial production rising by a slower-than-expected 0.2 percent from the previous month while housing starts jumped 10.3 percent from the same month last year.