A sharp rise in durable goods orders pointed on Wednesday to a brighter outlook for the manufacturing sector than had previously been expected.

Orders of big-ticket items--intended to last more than three years--climbed by 1.4 per cent; analysts had expected a fall of 1 per cent. Excluding the volatile transport sector, the figures were even stronger, with a rise of 2.6 per cent. May orders were revised up by 0.9 percentage points to 6.4 per cent.