Companies' capital spending grew 7.3 percent from a year earlier in the April-June period on an all-industry basis for the ninth straight quarter of expansion, the Finance Ministry reported Monday.

Manufacturers spent 19.8 percent more on plants and equipment than they did a year earlier, up for the ninth consecutive quarter and showing the highest rate of increase since the ministry adopted the current calculation method in July-September 2001, a quarterly poll by the ministry showed.

Nonmanufacturers spent 1.8 percent more, up for the seventh month in a row.