The value of construction orders received last month by the 50 largest contractors in Japan fell 5.6 pct year-on-year to 1.174 trln yen, the first fall in five months, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. Construction orders had jumped 9.2 pct in November. Domestic private sector orders rose 0.4 pct in December to 905.2 bln yen, the third straight monthly rise, while public sector orders were down 23.1 pct at 162.3 bln yen, the seventh fall in the past eight months. In December, orders from overseas declined 35.2 pct to 53.1 bln yen, the first fall in two months, while miscellaneous orders were up 10.2 pct at 53.0 bln yen.