Main events scheduled in Japan for Thursday, July 9:

-- Cabinet Office to release machinery orders data for May at 8:50 a.m.

-- Tokyo District Court to hand down ruling on former employee of SoftBank Corp. who was indicted in February on charge of industrial espionage.

-- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun to visit Japan through Friday.

-- Bank of Japan to release its quarterly Sakura Report on Japan's regional economies following a meeting of the bank's regional branch managers.

-- Fast Retailing Co., the operator of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, to report earnings for the nine months through May.

-- New National Theatre in Tokyo to resume staging shows.

==Kyodo

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