Core private-sector machinery orders surged a seasonally adjusted 11.1 pct in June from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said, evidence of accelerating growth in the world's second-largest economy. The increase exceed even the most bullish expectation in a Nihon Keizai Shimbun poll of 22 brokerage houses and research institutes. All 22 expected an increase, with forecasts ranging from 2.3 pct to 9.6 pct and an averag of 5.7 pct. "We have upgraded our basic view of the trend in machinery orders to increasing at a moderate pace," a Cabinet Office official said. That was the first upgrade since last December, and followed a downgrade last month to "flat" from "showing signs of recovery." Year-on-year, core orders rose 5.4 pct. In May, core private-sector orders fell 6.7 pct from the previous month and by 2.7 pct from a year earlier. Core private-sector machinery orders, which exclude volatile orders from electric utilities and for ships, are viewed as a leading indicator of corporate capital spending. Despite weak export growth, corporate investment spending has remained strong, playing a key role in keeping Japan's economic recovery on track. On Friday, the government is expected to report that the economy grew for a third straight quarter in the three months to June, as export growth accelerated slightly, joining expanding consumer and corporate investment spending in driving growth. The economy is projected to have grown at an annualized rate of 2.0 pct, according to an XFN-Asia poll of 10 private-sector economists.