Japan's core private-sector machinery orders, a key gauge of trends in capital spending, fell 2.1 percent in May from a month earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, government data showed on Thursday. That was better than a median forecast of a 3.8 percent fall in a poll of 27 economists last week. Forecasts ranged from a fall of 11.0 percent to a rise of 3.6 percent. Compared with the same month last year, core orders, a closely watched gauge of trends in capital spending, rose 8.8 percent. The poll forecast a gain of 6.8 percent. The government has forecast a fall in orders of 3.2 percent in the April-June quarter after a fall of 5.6 percent in January-March. Core orders, which exclude those for ships and equipment at electric power firms, are regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, although the data tends to be volatile.///www.reuters.com